* Talks on draft resolution resume Saturday at 1500 GMT
* U.N. wants to authorize deployment of up to 30 monitors
By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, April 13 (Reuters) – Western powers on
Friday tried to overcome Russian criticism of a U.S.-drafted
Security Council resolution authorizing an advance team of U.N.
observers to monitor Syria’s fragile ceasefire and said they
hoped to put it to a vote this weekend.
The draft, obtained by Reuters, calls for the initial
deployment of up to 30 unarmed U.N. observers to Syria in line
with a request by U.N.-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan. But it
also criticizes Damascus for human rights violations and hints
at the possibility of further action by the 15-nation council.
“There was a negotiation, there is not yet an agreement,”
French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters. “It’s very
tough, but there will be a vote tomorrow in any case.”
Diplomats said the U.S. and European delegations will revise
the draft and circulate a new version to the council that they
hope will be acceptable to Moscow.
The council will reconvene on Saturday at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT)
after council members have had a chance to receive instructions
from their capitals.
The U.S.-drafted resolution was co-sponsored by Britain,
France, Germany, Portugal and Morocco, the sole Arab nation on
the council.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after
Friday’s inconclusive negotiations that there had been “some
good discussion” – but not good enough.
“I’m not completely satisfied with the outcome of this
discussion but … let’s see what comes out as a result,” he
said. “We need to cut off all the things which are not really
necessary for this particular purpose.”
Several diplomats said negotiations with Russia to find
mutually acceptable language were slow and difficult.
U.N. diplomats say Syrian ally Russia supports Annan’s peace
efforts but is working hard to shield Damascus from what it sees
as a Western push for Libya-style “regime change.” Russia and
China have vetoed two resolutions condemning President Bashar
al-Assad’s 13-month assault on anti-government protesters.
The resolution is a response to Annan’s request that the
council move quickly to get the first members of an observer
force, which will ultimately have up to 250 monitors, in Syria
to lock in the fragile ceasefire.
U.N. OBSERVERS ON STAND-BY
“The (U.N.) Department of Peacekeeping Operations is working
around the clock to find the necessary number of troops for the
full observer mission eventually,” said Annan spokesman Ahmad
Fawzi.
“At the moment we have the advance team standing by to board
planes and to get there, to get themselves on the ground as soon
as possible,” he said.
A U.N.-backed ceasefire aimed at halting more than a year of
bloodshed in Syria appeared to be holding on Thursday, but
forces loyal to Assad fought rebels near the border with Turkey
on Friday, threatening the truce.
The latest U.S. draft would have the council say Damascus
should “ensure full, unimpeded, and immediate freedom of
movement and access throughout Syria for all (observer) mission
personnel as deemed necessary by the mission.”
The first U.S. draft had made a number of demands on the
Syrian government and did not explicitly demand anything of the
opposition. That, council diplomats said, annoyed Russia.
The latest U.S. draft includes proposed Russian language
about the rebels, saying the council “demands that all parties
in Syria, including the opposition, immediately cease all armed
violence in all its forms.”
It also has the council “condemning the widespread
violations of human rights and the use of force against
civilians by the Syrian authorities, recalling that those
responsible shall be held accountable.”
It ends with a vague threat of “further steps” by the
council if Syria does not comply with the resolution.
