BRUSSELS - French President Jacques Chirac said Friday that the United States and Britain had breached international law by declaring war on Iraq without a UN mandate.
The two countries had "breached international legality", Chirac said at the end of an EU summit overshadowed by the Iraq crisis, which has sparked unprecedented rifts in the 15-member bloc.
French President added he would refuse to accept a US-British post-war administration of Iraq, saying the United Nations was the only body which could be responsible for rebuilding the country.
"France will not accept a resolution tending to legitimize the military intervention and giving the American and English belligerents powers over the administration of Iraq," he told a press conference.
Speaking after an EU summit clouded by divisions over Iraq, he added that, whatever the outcome of the war on Iraq, "it will be necessary to rebuild," and "for that there is only one body, the UN."
Britain is fighting alongside the United States in the campaign to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. France and Germany remain in outspoken opposition to the war.
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