Iraq war critics Russia, France and Germany agreed on Thursday to back a US resolution on the country's future despite misgivings but not to give any extra reconstruction aid, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said.

After a three-way telephone conference with French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Schroeder said they would vote for the resolution for the sake of unity in the UN Security Council and because it showed some progress.

But he added: "The progress in our view is still not an adequate response to the situation on the ground in Iraq, and on those grounds, we do not see ourselves in a position to play a military role there...or to make a further material contribution beyond what has already been agreed."

France and Germany are contributing to a modest pledge of 200 million euros (US$232.3 million) for reconstruction from European Union funds at an international donors' conference in Madrid next week. They have also offered to train Iraqi police.

Schroeder was addressing a news conference at an EU summit hours before the scheduled vote in New York.

"We took note of the fact that the resolution is a really important step in the right direction. A lot of what Russia, France and Germany had sought has been included," he said.

He said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had also been somewhat more positive about the latest draft, which asks the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to come up with a timetable by December 15 for a return to full self-government.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters: "We would have preferred in particular that this text set more binding and shorter deadlines for the transfer of responsibilities and the political transition."

But he said the United Nations had to close ranks in the face of "the spiral of violence and terrorism in Iraq".

Villepin said he hoped the resolution was only a first step which would be followed by others.

Critics had sought a clear path for ending the US-led occupation and a bigger role for the United Nations in supervising the transition.

No military or financial role

Chirac spokeswoman Catherine Colonna confirmed the three countries had agreed they would make no military or financial commitment to Iraq.

She said the three anti-war powers would give a joint statement in the Security Council to explain their vote later on Thursday, emphasizing their unity on the issue.

The three countries infuriated the United States by teaming up in March to prevent a Security Council resolution that would have approved the US-led invasion of Iraq to overthrow President Saddam Hussein.

France threatened to use its veto if necessary, but the issue never came to a vote because Washington could not muster the necessary nine votes to pass a resolution.

In Putrajaya, Malaysia, where he was attending an Islamic summit, Putin stopped short of confirming that Moscow would vote for the latest US draft, which critics say does not contain a firm enough timetable for ending the US-led occupation or give the United Nations authority over the transition.

"I have just completed my teleconference with the German chancellor and the French president and we have coordinated our position," Putin told reporters. "My ambassador in New York will disclose that position tomorrow or maybe later this evening."

(China Daily October 17, 2003)