U.N. Approves Terms for Surrender by Iraq : Diplomacy: Baghdad is ordered to halt ‘hostile or provocative acts’ and to release all of its war prisoners.

In its first action since the end of hostilities in the Persian Gulf, the U.N. Security Council overwhelmingly approved a U.S. resolution Saturday that sets the surrender terms for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The measure, approved by an 11-1 vote with three abstentions, was designed to give the allies the U.N.’s further stamp of legal approval for talks scheduled today between Iraqi and coalition military commanders, who are to work out details of a formal Gulf War cease-fire.

This resolution--which incorporates requirements outlined in previous U.N. measures on the Gulf and President Bush’s surrender terms for Baghdad--orders the Iraqis to halt all “hostile or provocative acts,” release all allied prisoners of war and free third-nation and Kuwaiti detainees.

Under the terms of the resolution, the Iraqis must provide information on the sites of Iraqi mines, booby traps and chemical and biological weapons in Kuwait and southern Iraq. Iraq must renounce its annexation of Kuwait, return all the booty that it has plundered and accept liability for damages it has caused.

“This is a resolution to end hostilities against Iraq, in a war that Iraq clearly lost,” said U.S. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering. Until Baghdad complies with the U.N. requirements, he stressed that Security Council resolutions authorizing the use of force to drive Iraq from Kuwait and to ensure peace in the region will remain in effect.

Speaking after council members voted, Pickering said the measure “turns our attention from a war we never wanted.” He said the council was embarked on “the greatest challenge of all: building lasting peace and security.”

“President Bush has frequently repeated that our quarrel is not with the people of Iraq but with the leaders of Iraq and their destructive policies,” he said. “We look forward to the day when Iraq can once again assume full membership in the family of nations. This resolution shows Iraq the way to begin to do so.”

Diplomats said the U.S.-backed resolution--the 13th since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2--is an interim measure. It may be followed, perhaps later this month, by a more sweeping Security Council statement, formally declaring a cease-fire in the Persian Gulf.

Throughout the day, diplomats shuttled in and out of the council chambers, as the final language of the three-page resolution was adjusted.

Cuba voted against the resolution while China, Yemen and India abstained.

Cuba’s ambassador, Ricardo Alarcon, tried to persuade fellow diplomats to declare a formal Gulf War cease-fire. But the United States and its allies prevailed in their demand that Iraq agree to all surrender terms before the Security Council authorizes any formal cease-fire.

Bush has made it clear that he does not want the council to call a cease-fire because that move might take away his legal right to resume hostilities if Hussein fails to meet coalition demands.

Alarcon chided the Security Council for forsaking its usual “calm and moderation” and enacting the U.S. resolution only a day after it was submitted. “We have acted with the kind of alarm and obedience that children are supposed to evince,” he said.

The Soviet Union supported the U.S. resolution but Soviet Ambassador Yuli M. Vorontsov told reporters, “We hope that there will be no resumption of hostilities.”

Saturday’s vote was the Security Council’s first public meeting on the Gulf War since Nov. 29, when it approved the resolutions that the United States and its allies have relied on, in part, as their legal basis for the use of force against Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait.

The five permanent members of the council are the United States, Soviet Union, Britain, France and China. The 10 non-permanent members are Austria, Belgium, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Ivory Coast, Romania, Yemen, Zaire and Zimbabwe.