Mideast "quartet" to meet, Rice says (Roundup)

Jan 17, 2007, 20:05 GMT

Berlin - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the Mideast 'quartet' comprised of Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union was likely to meet early next month in a bid to kick-start Middle East peace talks.

Rice, speaking after talks in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, termed the quartet 'the guardian' of international efforts to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

She said that the quartet would meet in Washington during the week beginning January 29, probably on February 1 or 2.

Steinmeier said reviving the quartet was vital because it meant the international community would speak with one voice and there would not be competing peace blueprints for the region.

'We are both of the opinion that the time is ripe for meeting of Quartet,' Steinmeier said.

Turning to Iran, Rice sharply criticized the Tehran government for what she called its 'day-by-day' violation of a UN Security Council resolution concerning its nuclear programme.

She urged the international community to hold together in its efforts to get Iran to dismantle its uranium-enrichment programme which is widely believed to be aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

'They refuse to do what the international community insisted they do,' Rice said, adding Iran faced isolation if it refused to comply and that Washington would not break its policy of refusing to deal with Iran on a bilateral basis.

Rice declined to comment on French plans to send an envoy to Tehran, saying only, 'What other countries may do, might wish to do, that's a decision for other countries.'

But she stressed that all nations need to stay focused on the fact that Iran was both violating a UN Security Council resolution and failing to meet its obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Regarding efforts to revive the six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear programme, Rice said it was vital that the next meeting be 'fully prepared so we can make progress.'

Earlier in Berlin on Wednesday, US chief negotiator on North Korea, Christopher R Hill, held a second round of talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye Gwan.

Hill said six-party talks - which include North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States - could resume later this month.

He said China would have to make a final decision on whether to back a new round of talks in the coming weeks.

The Berlin meeting marks the first time that US and North Korean envoys have met alone away from Beijing since the so-far fruitless negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear programme began in 2003.

Hill told reporters he was 'disappointed' that a December meeting of the six countries involved in negotiations had not made more progress.

Tensions have worsened since North Korea's test of a nuclear weapon last year, and Japanese and US officials have warned tougher sanctions against North Korea would have to be considered if the hardline country conducts a further test.