The four-page draft demands that all parties to the Syrian conflict “immediately cease any attacks against civilians,” Reuters reports. A mechanism to monitor the truce is to be worked out within a month.
- The draft resolution would also ask the UN to convene formal talks on a transitional government. The talks between the regime and opposition are targeted for early January.
Foreign ministers from 18 countries as well as the UN and Arab League representatives gathered in New York Friday to push the Syria roadmap.
Apart from the UN and the Arab League, the group also includes Russia, the US, the EU, the UK, Germany, France, China, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Qatar, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, who have already met twice in Vienna in the last six weeks and drafted a road map for the Syrian conflict reconciliation.
- During the conference preceding the UN Security Council meeting, new calls for Bashar Assad to step down were voiced, arguing that the Syrian President’s exit would facilitate the battle with terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
- “We confirmed our position that – as the UNSC has repeatedly stressed – there can be no pre-conditions to fight terrorism,” Lavrov said, adding that such calls did not make it into the draft. He once again said it is up to the Syrian people to determine the future of their country and its current leader.
Earlier, Jordan, which was tasked with listing terrorist organizations in Syria, presented a document that includes 160 extremist groups, RIA Novosti reported, citing sources in the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“The list reflects positions of different sides,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judah, who presented the document during the ISSG talks in New York, also said, according to TASS.
On Thursday, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution submitted jointly by Russian and the US which allows punishing individuals or companies involved in trade with Islamic State or other terror groups.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov as well as with the Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Russia and the US managed to reach an agreement on some “critical” issues concerning Syria in particular. Kerry said that the positions of the US and Russia on Syria are “fundamentally very similar” and expressed readiness to further cooperation.
rt.com
18/12/15
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Russia has made clear to Western nations that it has no objection to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepping down as part of a peace process, in a softening of its publicly stated staunch backing of Assad ahead of talks in New York, diplomats said....
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The five United Nations Security Council veto powers have agreed the text of a draft resolution to endorse an international roadmap for a Syria peace process and the 15-member body is expected to adopt it later on Friday, diplomats said...
ReplyDeleteU.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, was phoning each of the remaining 10 members of the council to brief them on the text, said diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity. The council is due to meet at 4 p.m. ET (2100 GMT).
The four-page draft, seen by Reuters, backs a nationwide ceasefire in Syria to come into effect “as soon as the representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition have begun initial steps towards a political transition under U.N. auspices.”
It also asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report back within one month on options for a ceasefire monitoring, verification and reporting mechanism.
The draft asked the United Nations to convene representatives of the Syrian government and opposition for formal negotiations with a target start date of January.
It “demands that all parties immediately cease any attacks against civilians and civilian objects” and “stresses that the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria.”
REUTERS
alarabiya.net
Syria war: UN Security Council unanimously backs peace plan...
ReplyDeleteThe UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution outlining a peace process in Syria.
The 15-member council reached rare agreement on the issue in a session in New York on Friday.
The resolution endorses talks between the Syrian government and opposition in early January, as well as a ceasefire.
The Syrian war, which is heading towards its fifth year, has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced millions more, the UN says.
However, disagreements remain over the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The US, UK and France called for his departure, saying he had lost the ability to lead the country.
Russia and China, however, argued against a requirement for Mr Assad to leave power as a precondition for talks. The resolution itself makes no mention of his future role.
There is also disagreement over the definition of which armed groups fall within the remit of the ceasefire..........http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35138011
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a United Nations Security Council meeting which saw the adoption of a resolution on Syria that he hopes the closure of the Syria-Turkey border will be resolved without delay...
ReplyDelete"I hope those working on the ground and those helping them from the air will deal with that issue without delay," Lavrov said.
http://tass.ru/en/politics/845469
De Mistura enviará en enero primeras invitaciones al diálogo intersirio...
ReplyDeleteLa ONU enviará en enero próximo las invitaciones para participar en negociaciones intersirias, anunció este viernes el enviado especial Staffan de Mistura.
La resolución 2254 adoptada unánimemente por el Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas establece que representantes de Damasco y de la oposición siria, con mediación de la ONU, deben empezar a principios del próximo mes negociaciones formales sobre la transición política para poner fin al conflicto que desgarra el país árabe desde 2011.
"En enero cursaremos invitaciones. Seamos realistas para no ser demasiado ambiciosos", declaró De Mistura al comentar la viabilidad de las fechas propuestas.
Al mismo tiempo, el diplomático se mostró convencido de que el proceso de negociaciones podrá arrancar a principios del 2016.
"Nuestra intención es celebrarlas en enero, y confiamos en poder hacerlo con el apoyo de la comunidad internacional y en cooperación con cada grupo sirio que aspire a ser parte de esa discusión", dijo el enviado especial.
Las negociaciones deben derivar en "un gobierno creíble, inclusivo y no sectario" dentro del plazo de seis meses, conforme a la resolución 2254, así como determinar el procedimiento y el calendario para redactar la nueva Constitución de Siria.
En los 18 meses siguientes Siria deberá organizar bajo supervisión de la ONU unas elecciones libres, justas y transparentes en las que puedan participar todos los sirios, incluida la diáspora.
mundo.sputniknews.com