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http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030310/1/38rhk.html Agence France-Presse March 10, 2003 Russia to use veto to scupper US-British war resolution -British Prime Minister Tony Blair was meanwhile facing a growing party revolt over his handling of the crisis. -Britain's Blair was faced with the gravest crisis of his political career over his support for Washington's hard line, with a leading cabinet minister threatening to resign if the government went to war without UN backing. The warning from International Development Secretary Clare Short came only hours after a member of parliament in Blair's Labour Party confirmed he was stepping down as an aide to the government because of its stance on Iraq. London's Sunday Times said another nine aides were expected to follow suit if Blair went to war without a UN mandate, while Tam Dalyell, a veteran party member and the oldest member of the House of Commons, called on him to resign. Russia vowed to veto a UN resolution seeking UN approval for war on Iraq, amid US and British threats to strike Baghdad with or without Security Council endorsement. The 15 members of the UN Security Council were due to meet later to discuss Iraq and set a date to vote on the British-US-Spanish resolution giving Baghdad until March 17 to disarm or face war. "If the draft resolution ... which includes unattainable ultimatums and demands, will in the end be put to a vote, then Russia will use its vote against the resolution," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Monday. US President George W. Bush has repeatedly insisted that the United States will lead a "coalition of the willing" to disarm Iraq by force if it failed to win backing from the Security Council. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that military action could begin before next Monday's deadline if the resolution fails. "If the resolution doesn't pass, March 17 as a matter for the UN is not relevant. ... Time is running out," he told NBC's Meet the Press programme. The United States has around a quarter of a million battle-ready troops poised to invade Iraq. Ivanov however warned that Washington's efforts to topple Saddam -- a mission which London has so far failed to support -- and impose a US-based system of democracy on the country were "doomed to failure." "The attempts to export democracy, especially to countries with cultures that have survived through the centuries, is doomed to failure," ITAR-TASS quoted Ivanov as saying. Amid frantic rounds of diplomatic shuttling ahead of the Security Council vote, expected as early as Tuesday, France sent Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin to rally opposition to the US motion among African council members. France has played a high-profile and high-stakes game in opposing the British-US stance and is anxious to avoid casting the first French veto against Washington in nearly 50 years. President Jacques Chirac was to appear on French television later to explain his position on the crisis. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was meanwhile facing a growing party revolt over his handling of the crisis. The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, urged Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to make "a dramatic and fundamental change in spirit and substance" to avert war, in an interview with the Al-Hayat newspaper. The newspaper of Saddam's elder son called on the Security Council to block the resolution to prevent "blood-thirsty" US attempts to wage war, while defending its cooperation with disarmament efforts. "The whole world looks forward to Security Council permanent members, like France, Russia and China, speaking out decisively to veto the draft resolution of bad intentions," the Babel newspaper said. Iraqi and UN officials said Baghdad would scrap six more banned Al-Samoud 2 missiles, raising to 52 the number of rockets destroyed since the process got under way on March 1. Iraq says it produced around 100 of the missiles. Ahead of the crucial week in the United Nations, Washington had said it was confident that its draft resolution would pass, despite opposition from permanent members Russia, China and France. The top UN council was scheduled to meet at 4:00 pm (2100 GMT) to discuss the issue and decide when to hold a vote. De Villepin's attempt to recruit sufficient "no" votes in Africa for Paris to avoid casting its veto, hit trouble in Angola, the first stage of a lightning tour of the three African members of the Security Council. Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo de Miranda indicated that Luanda wanted to abstain in the vote, telling a joint press conference with De Villepin: "The position of Angola is to back neither France nor the United States." He added however: "War is inevitable. ... What the international community needs to do now is prepare for what comes after the war." De Villepin was headed for Cameroon and later Guinea. Mirroring the top French diplomat's tour, British Secretary of State for Africa Valerie Amos was due to start a three-day visit to the three countries. Britain's Blair was faced with the gravest crisis of his political career over his support for Washington's hard line, with a leading cabinet minister threatening to resign if the government went to war without UN backing. The warning from International Development Secretary Clare Short came only hours after a member of parliament in Blair's Labour Party confirmed he was stepping down as an aide to the government because of its stance on Iraq. London's Sunday Times said another nine aides were expected to follow suit if Blair went to war without a UN mandate, while Tam Dalyell, a veteran party member and the oldest member of the House of Commons, called on him to resign. But the prospect of the tough resolution making it through the United Nations now looks increasingly slim, with only Britain, the United States, Spain and Bulgaria so far backing the measure. France, Russia and China have said they will do their utmost to prevent the resolution going through, but until Monday had stopped short of saying whether they would torpedo the motion with a veto in the 15-member Security Council. Non-permanent members Germany and Syria have come out against the proposed text, leaving six nations yet to state their voting intentions: Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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