UN council approves deployment of monitors to Syria

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, the current Security Council president, announced that the 15 members of the council will vote Saturday on a resolution authorizing the deployment of the first wave of U.N. military observers to monitor a cease-fire between the Syrian government and opposition fighters which appears to be largely holding.             

The draft resolution, obtained Friday night by The Associated Press, calls on both sides to immediately "cease all armed violence in all its forms" and calls on the Syrian government "to implement visibly" international envoy Kofi Annan's demand that it pull troops and heavy weapons out of cities and towns.       

Security Council members met behind closed doors for several hours Friday to discuss rival drafts by the U.S. and its European allies and by Russia, Syria's most important council ally.       

Both called for the deployment of an advance team of up to 30 unarmed military observers to initiate contacts with both sides and begin to report on implementation of "a full cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties" and so does the final text.         

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he was waiting to see the final draft but told reporters, "I'm not completely satisfied with the outcome of the discussion."          

Meanwhile, France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said that there is not yet an agreement, adding “it is very tough, but there will be a vote tomorrow in any case”.        

The U.N. Security Council on Saturday unanimously authorized the deployment of up to 30 unarmed observers to Syria to monitor the country's fragile ceasefire.   

Russia and China joined the other 13 council members and voted in favor of the Western-Arab draft resolution. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, however, made clear that there were limits to the kind of U.N. action Moscow could support.   

"Out of respect for the sovereignty of Syria we have cautioned against destructive attempts at external interference or imposing any kind of illusory fixes," he said.


AP/LBCI