West dilutes UN council text on Syria peace bid

In an effort to secure Russian support, Western powers on the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday diluted a draft statement backing U.N.-Arab League Syrian envoy Kofi Annan's drive to end violence that has brought the country to the brink of civil war.  

The 15-nation panel held two rounds of negotiations on Tuesday on a Western-drafted statement that would express "full support" for Annan's peace efforts while threatening Damascus with "further steps" if it failed to comply with the council's demands "in a timely manner," council diplomats told Reuters.

A previous version of the statement had threatened Syria with new U.N. measures it Damascus failed to comply within seven days, which diplomats said Russia considered to be an ultimatum. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow could support a statement provided it contained no ultimatums.

Western envoys said securing Russian backing for the U.N. statement would be a diplomatic blow for Moscow's ally Assad. After a two-hour closed-door negotiating session, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin suggested to reporters that Moscow was prepared to back the Western-drafted statement.

But a senior Western diplomat challenged Churkin's remarks, saying it was the Russian envoy who pushed for a delay in the adoption of the statement.

"He (Churkin) decided in the end that he wanted to wait until tomorrow morning," the diplomat said. If no one raises any objections by Wednesday morning, the statement will be automatically adopted without a vote under a process at the United Nations known as a "silence procedure."

Also up for automatic approval on Wednesday morning is a draft of informal remarks to the press that Syria's close ally Russia asked the council to approve.

Those remarks would have the council condemn bomb attacks last weekend in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo.

The core of the draft statement is Annan's six-point peace proposal, which calls for a cease-fire, political dialogue between the government and opposition, and full access for humanitarian agencies. As Lavrov had demanded, the statement includes Annan's proposal verbatim.

Western diplomats said privately that their push for a statement backing Annan highlighted their determination to break the impasse on the Security Council that has prevented it from taking any forceful action against Syria since Assad began cracking down on demonstrators.

Unlike resolutions, which are legally binding and need nine votes in favor and no vetoes from the five permanent council members to pass, statements are generally non-binding but require unanimous support from the council.   

Reuters