France pushes for UN declaration of war against Islamic State

France will effectively push for a declaration of war against Islamic State at the UN security council, with a resolution calling on members “to take all necessary measures” to defeat the militant group in the wake of last week’s deadly Paris attacks.

French UN officials have circulated a draft declaration calling on countries to “redouble and co-ordinate their efforts” against IS. The resolution has reportedly been worded so as to encourage unity so that it can be swiftly pushed forward.

Meanwhile, EU ministers will hold talks today about potential emergency measures to tighten internal and external border checks.

France’s draft text describes IS as a “global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security” and says sanctions would soon be imposed against group leaders and supporters.

It “unequivocally condemns in the strongest terms the horrifying terrorist attacks” by IS in Paris and Beirut, and also mentions violence by IS in Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt during 2015.

Britain, which holds the UN security council presidency, said it would enable a vote to go ahead as soon as France is ready.

“The exceptional and unprecedented threat posed by this group to the entire international community requires a strong, united and unambiguous response from the security council,” French ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre said on Thursday.

“The exceptional and unprecedented threat posed by this group to the entire international community requires a strong, united and unambiguous response from the security council.

“This is the goal of our draft resolution, which calls on all member states to take all necessary measures to fight Daesh [IS].”

EU ministers are to hold talks on Friday about emergency measures to tighten border checks after the ringleader of the attacks was killed in an apartment on the French capital’s fringe.

French officials are reportedly hopeful of success because IS has attacked and killed nationals of Russia and China, two nations that hold a security council veto that they have frequently used to block resolutions that suggest intervention across sovereign borders.

France’s bid comes after Russia submitted a revised text of a separate draft resolution that calls for fighting IS with Syria’s consent – a draft that was shot down by the United States, Britan and France which are refusing to co-operate with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Despite a dispute over the Russian draft, UN envoy Vitaly Churkin indicated that he did not have any objections to the French text, and suggested that the Russian proposals could be adopted at a future date.