Blair seeks Russian abstention on second Iraq resolution

Islamic Republic News Agency ( IRNA) ^

[RCW2001]

London, March 4, IRNA -- Prime Minister Tony Blair was due to join his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to secure an assurance from Moscow that it will not veto a new UN resolution to rigger a war against Iraq.

Political analysts in London suggested that Blair's presence at the meeting being held at his office underlined the importance being attached to Russia abstaining when the resolution is presented to the UN Security Council next week.

Both the US and Britain have threatened to go it alone in launching military action against Iraq, but the fear is over the strength of opposition around the world that could make a war into a bombshell especially if it happens to end in chaos.

The British prime minister has already expressed his confidence in gaining support for the second resolution, but this depends on France also dropping its threatened veto and winning the support of at least seven of the 10 non-permanent Security Council members.

A major concern for Blair is being able to wrap up continuing negotiations in Belfast to secure full implementation of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace agreement so he can fly back to London to attend the talks with Ivanov.

Britain's veteran peace group, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament CND, was set to warn Tuesday that the new draft resolution sponsored by the US and Britain does not authorize the use of force against Iraq.

Legal advice obtained by CND said that London and Washington failed to get express authorization for military action in UN Security Council Resolution 1441 last November, which is implicitly referred as the justification in the latest bland draft.

The US was said to have wanted to include a reference to "all necessary means" to disarm Iraq in the new resolution, but abandoned the idea because it thought it would not be possible to get the support of the Security Council. HC/LS End