Security Council to get draft within 48 hours, Russia

(ANSAmed) – NEW YORK – The UN is getting ever close to a draft resolution on chemical weapons in Syria.
Diplomatic sources say that after weeks of haggling, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Great Britain, Russia and China – have reached an agreement on the major points of the resolution, though the US has said some details still need to be hashed out.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the final agreement on the resolution would likely come within the next 48 hours. On Friday the five permanent members will be meeting to discuss the proposal of a peace conference for Syria, the so-called ‘Geneva II’. An agreement was reportedly reached during the foreign ministers meeting of the five permanent members at the lunch organised by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the 68th UN General Assembly.

During the meeting – according to Ban’s spokesperson – John Kerry, Laurent Fabius, William Hague, Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi discussed preparations for the mechanisms to be set up for the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to inspect Syria’s chemical arsenals and bring them under control. Sources say that the draft will not be under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which calls for the use of force as a final option. It also does not assign blame for the August 21 chemical attack nor call for the perpetrators to go before the International Criminal Court. It may instead include a reference to a future resolution including Chapter 7, were the regime not to comply with the first one.
Over the past few days several steps have been taken towards healing the rifts between Western powers and Russia and China.
Kerry and Lavrov spoke on Wednesday at the UN headquarters in a bilateral meeting that the US Secretary of State called ”constructive”. French Foreign Minister Fabius has instead said that the document ”must foresee exactly what was decided at Geneva”, an overture to accepting Russia’s demand that Chapter 7 not be included – or at least not in the initial resolution. According to the agreement signed in Switzerland between Kerry and Lavrov, the Security Council could adopt a second resolution calling for sanctions if Syria does not comply with the terms. (ANSAmed).