LIGHT AT
THE END OF THE TUNNEL. LAVROV IS DOING HIS JOB
UN SECURITY COUNCIL AGREES WORDING OF RESOLUTION ON
SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS
·
Julian Borger in New York . theguardian.com, Thursday 26 September 2013
Agreement reached on wording of
United Nations resolution on Syria after foreign ministers meet with secretary
general
The five permanent members of the UN
security council reached an agreement on Thursday over the wording of a "binding and enforceable" resolution to
eliminate Syria's
stockpiles of chemical
weapons.
But the agreement does not authorize the use of force if Syria does not
comply – the sticking point that had prevented diplomatic progress on the
conflict that has lasted more than two years and killed more than 100,000
people.
The British ambassador to the UN,
Mark Lyall Grant, said in a post on Twitter that the five permanent members of
the security council – Britain, France, the US, Russia and China – agreed on a
"binding and enforceable draft" of a resolution.
He said the text would be introduced
to the 10 other members of the security council at a meeting later on Thursday
night.
The development was announced after
hastily convened talks between the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his
Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. If the resolution is adopted, it would be
the first legally binding resolution on the Syrian conflict.
However, in order to get the agreement, THE US
HAD TO CONCEDE THAT THE WORDING OF THE RESOLUTION WOULD NOT FALL UNDER CHAPTER
7 OF THE UN CHARTER, WHICH ALLOW IT TO BE ENFORCED BY MILITARY ACTION. NEITHER
DID THE RESOLUTION ASCRIBE BLAME FOR THE 21 AUGUST CHEMICAL ATTACK THAT KILLED
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN A DAMASCUS SUBURB, AND WHICH PROMPTED THE LATEST CRISIS.
As part of the deal, Russia agreed
to send troops to Syria to guard sites where chemical weapons are to be
destroyed.
Sergei Ryabkov, a deputy foreign
minister, said that other former Soviet republics that were part of the
Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation would also deploy soldiers
to provide security for an international team of weapons inspectors who would oversee
the task of destroying Syria's stockpile
of poison gases and nerve agents.
The alliance includes Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Ryabkov said that Moscow would
not allow the Syrian arsenal to be transferred to Russia for dismantling.
"We believe that it should be
dismantled on Syrian territory," Ryabkov was quoted as saying while
attending an arms show in Nizhny Tagil. "We undoubtedly won't deal with
it. We believe that the process of its destruction could be efficiently organised
on the territory of Syria."
The Organisation for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons, based in the Hague, is expected to agree to a provisional
verification and disarmament plan on Sunday, following Syria's formal
declaration of its chemical weapons, delivery systems and production
facilities.
The Associated Press contributed to
this report
================
The OPCW's text calls for inspections to begin by Tuesday. An advance team
will probably arrive on Monday.
The OPCW sets out a deadline that will see the destruction of production and mixing/filling equipment by 1 November 2013 and the complete destruction of all chemical weapons material and equipment in the first half of next year.
Syria is instructed to provide "immediate and unfettered" access to the OPCW's inspectors. If it does not, a meeting of the executive council will be called within 24 hours.
The text also authorizes the OPCW to inspect "any other site identified by a State Party as having been involved in the Syrian chemical weapons program, unless deemed unwarranted by the director general".
This is unchartered waters for the OPCW, which is a small organisation that has never undertaken a job of this size or complexity, the BBC's World Affairs correspondent Paul Adams says. It will need a lot of help and is expected to ask for urgent funding and additional personnel, he adds.
================
UN PROBES NEW ALLEGED
CHEMICAL WEAPONS ATTACKS IN SYRIA
[YOU SHOULD READ THIS WITH “PINZAS” NOT ALL IS TRUE, just West-false-flags]
BBC 27 September 2013
UN inspectors are investigating seven alleged chemical
weapons attacks in Syria - three of which happened after the 21 August Damascus
incident that led to threats of US military action.
The 21 August attack left hundreds dead; the resulting
outcry led Syria to offer up its chemical weapons arsenal. The UN will vote later on a plan of action to
eliminate the stockpile.
Its resolution is expected to incorporate the text of an agreement
by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is
due to be approved by the OPCW's 41-nation executive council in The Hague later
on Friday.
Meanwhile violence goes on in Syria.
Activists said a car bomb killed at least 20 people near a mosque in Rankus, a
town north of Damascus, just after Friday prayers.
MILITANTS
ACCUSED
In a statement, the UN said its
current inspection team in Syria is investigating seven allegations of chemical
weapons use this year.
The team, led by Ake Sellstrom,
arrived in Syria for its second visit on 25 September and hopes to finish its
work by Monday 30 September, the statement said.
It is working on a
"comprehensive report" into the allegations that it hopes to have
finished by late October.
The UN listed the alleged attacks,
which all took place this year, as Khan al-Assal on 19 March; Sheikh Maqsoud on
13 April; Saraqeb on 29 April; Ghouta on 21 August; Bahhariya on 22 August;
Jobar on 24 August and Ashrafieh Sahnaya on 25 August.
Syria has pushed for the
investigation of the three post-21 August incidents.
Its envoy to the United Nations,
Bashar Jaafari, accused "militants" of using chemical gas against the
army in Bahhariya, Jobar and Ashrafieh Sahnaya.
ALLEGED CHEMICAL
ATTACKS ON SYRIA, 2013. SOURCE UN
Aleppo: 19
March: Khan al-Assal
13
april : Sheikh Maqsoud
Damascus: 21 August: Ghouta in Zamaika, Ein
Tarma & Muachamiya
22 August:
Bahhariya (New alleged attack)
24 August: Jobar (New alleged attack)
25 August:
Ashrafieh Sahnaya (New alleged attack)
SYRIA'S
CHEMICAL WEAPONS ACCORDING TO BBC
- Syria believed to possess more than 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents and pre-cursor chemicals, including blister agent, sulphur mustard, and sarin nerve agent; also thought to have produced most potent nerve agent, VX
- US believes Syria's arsenal can be "delivered by aircraft, ballistic missile, and artillery rockets"
- Syria acceded to Chemical Weapons Convention on 14 September; it signed Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in 1972 but never ratified
Earlier this month, the US and Russia asked the world's
chemical weapons watchdog, the OPCW, to decide how to ensure the "complete
elimination of all chemical weapons material and equipment" in Syria by
the first half of 2014.
The OPCW sets out a deadline that will see the destruction of production and mixing/filling equipment by 1 November 2013 and the complete destruction of all chemical weapons material and equipment in the first half of next year.
Syria is instructed to provide "immediate and unfettered" access to the OPCW's inspectors. If it does not, a meeting of the executive council will be called within 24 hours.
The text also authorizes the OPCW to inspect "any other site identified by a State Party as having been involved in the Syrian chemical weapons program, unless deemed unwarranted by the director general".
This is unchartered waters for the OPCW, which is a small organisation that has never undertaken a job of this size or complexity, the BBC's World Affairs correspondent Paul Adams says. It will need a lot of help and is expected to ask for urgent funding and additional personnel, he adds.
If the text is approved by the OPCW's executive council, it
will form part of the UN Security Council resolution, which sets out to govern
the whole process. ???
The resolution includes a warning to
all the warring parties in Syria that evidence of non-compliance will trigger
measures under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which could, but does not
necessarily, include force, our correspondent notes.
More BBC articles:
- Syria's chemical weapons stockpile
- How to destroy Syria's chemical arsenal
- Syria chemical attack: What we know
Syria chemical
attack: What we know http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24301618
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