MOSCOW,
March 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A top Russian Foreign
Ministry official said Saturday, March 8, that Moscow will block the
passage of a second UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, doing
"everything it can" to prevent it passing.
Russia's
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov also warned that "if the United States
unilaterally launched a military operation against Iraq without a UN
mandate, it would be a violation of the UN charter," in which case
the Security Council would have to "make appropriate
decisions."
Deputy
Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said Russia would block an amended draft
resolution setting Iraq a March 17 deadline to disarm or face military
action, "doing everything it can not to let the resolution pass in
the UN Security Council," the Interfax news agency reported.
Questioned
as to whether Russia would use its right of veto, Fedotov said that how
the amendment would be blocked was a "technical point."
The
draft "could fail to attract a majority of votes" among the 15
Security Council members, but "even if it does, it won't pass
because Russia, France, Germany and China are extremely negative towards
it and will not allow its adoption," he said on his return to
Moscow from UN headquarters in New York, according to Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
The
new draft, drawn up by Britain and backed by the United States which is
seeking UN backing for its campaign to disarm Iraq by force if it does
not disarm voluntarily, "resembles an ultimatum and sets impossible
conditions for Iraq," Fedotov said.
He
added that Russia opposed the draft "because it leads to war, the
termination of inspections and could trigger unpredictable
consequences."
Earlier,
Ivanov told Russian media that the draft resolution was
"unjustified" and "dangerous."
In
interviews broadcast Saturday on Russia's state television channels
Channel One and Rossiya, Ivanov said an ultimatum was "unjustified,
particularly now that the heads of the inspection teams have requested
several months to complete their work."
He
told the ITAR-TASS news agency that there was "still a chance for a
political resolution and we think it would be wrong and dangerous to
ignore it. The other way is fraught not only with a high toll in human
lives, but serious international consequences as well."
The
amendment presented at the Security Council Friday would have the UN
declare that Iraq will be deemed to have failed to disarm "unless,
on or before March 17, the Council concludes that Iraq has demonstrated
full, unconditional, immediate and
active
cooperation" with UN inspectors.
Chief
UN inspector Hans Blix and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
head Mohamed ElBaradei "reaffirmed that the inspection mechanism is
working. It can therefore achieve the objective set for it, namely the
disarmament of Iraq. Russia strongly advocates further work by the
inspectors," Ivanov noted on television.
Russia
therefore, "like several other countries, considers the (proposed)
resolution pointless - it would not serve to reach a political
settlement of the Iraqi situation," he stressed.
"We
hope that the countries that proposed the draft resolution will
understand that the path of a political settlement may not be easy, but
it is reliable (and) guarantees peace in a tense region," he said.
Ivanov
repeated his view expressed at Friday's Security Council meeting that
"there is a realistic possibility of a political settlement."
France
To Lobby African Players
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German, French, Russian FMs, anti-war trio
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Moving
in the same direction and determined to frustrate a “war
resolution”, France Saturday prepared a diplomatic offensive aimed at
three key African members of the Security Council who have not yet
signaled their position.
Foreign
Minister Dominique de Villepin was set to leave for the west African
state of Angola, Cameroon and Guinea.
The
three - non-permanent members of the Security Council - are among six
countries still undecided at the weekend how to vote on a second Council
resolution that would give the green light to military action against
Iraq.
The
other three are Mexico, Chile and Pakistan.
The
votes of the six are vital to the outcome of the draft resolution
submitted February 24 by the United States, Britain and Spain; and is
supported by Bulgaria.
To
be adopted resolutions need the approval of at least nine out of the 15
members of the Council, without being vetoed by any of the five
permanent members.
The
text, which could be put to a vote next Tuesday, is opposed by permanent
members France and Russia and China.
Germany
and Syria also oppose the resolution, so if France can persuade two of
the six undecided countries to vote "no" then it would fail
without Paris having to wield its veto.
De
Villepin was set to begin his key tour just as President George W. Bush
intervened personally with Cameroon President Paul Biya stressing the
importance of bilateral relations.
The
French offensive comes at a point at which the Security Council appears
at its most divided over disarming Iraq.
The
three African countries have meanwhile come under economic and financial
pressure from Washington which is currently in the minority on the
Security Council.
Assistant
Secretary of State Walter Kansteiner went recently to Guinea, Angola and
Cameroon to get their backing but returned without results.
The
former French colony of Guinea, whose population is nine-tenths Muslim,
depends on Washington for relief of its heavy debt.
Angola
emerged last year from a 27 year-old civil war claiming some half
million lives and destroying the infrastructure of the oil-rich country.
External debt is some 10 billion dollars (9.08 billion euros).
Cameroon,
whose population is 22 percent Muslim, depends on the World Bank in
tackling economic problems, including debt of some nine billion dollars.
However,
Paris does not believe these countries should allow their decision to be
influenced by fear of reprisals.
A
Franco-African summit in Paris on February 21, at which Guinea, Cameroon
and Angola were present, adopted a joint declaration on Iraq saying
there was an alternative to war and appealing for the continuation and
strengthening of inspections.
Meanwhile
France's President Jacques Chirac appeared this weekend ready to battle
on to the bitter end to prevent war over Iraq, even to the point of
personal intervention at the UN.
French
officials have become less reticent about whether France would use its
veto or not, saying the government opposed any draft resolution paving
the way to war.
"Whatever
happens, we will reject any resolution which would authorize war,"
said one source at the Elysee Palace, AFP reported.
Paris
knows a majority in the Security Council remains hostile to war but is
equally aware that the numbers could change, forcing France, Russia and
China to make the choice whether to apply their veto or not.
"When
we're deciding on life and death, the decision should be at the highest
level," sources close to Chirac said, commenting on de Villepin's
proposal last Friday that heads of state and government should meet in
New York on vote on the disputed draft resolution.
Chirac
has been in contact with several Security Council members. But U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell has responded that a summit would not be
necessary.
