Brussels, 01/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 1 February, the French minister for foreign affairs, Alain Juppé, highlighted the “less negative attitude” being shown “for the first time” by Russia and the BRIC countries with regard to a resolution on Syria. On the previous day, following the meeting with the 15 member states of the UN Security Council, Juppé had said that there was still a chance of obtaining a compromise with Moscow over the next few days. His British counterpart, William Hague, said on Tuesday that there would be discussions with Russia and other countries over the next 24 hours to see if progress could be made. The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, acknowledged that the most recent version of the draft contained “certain elements… that provide hope” for a compromise.
On Wednesday 1 February, the Russian deputy minister for foreign affairs, Gennady Gatilov, stated that “we are currently working to try to find a text acceptable to everybody which will help find a political solution in Syria. This is why there will not be a vote over the next few days.”
The UN Security Council is working on a text that contains the Arab League's plan, and contains additions, such as the need to resolve the crisis “peacefully” and condemnation of “all violence, from wherever it comes”, in an effort to obtain Russia's acceptance. So far, these additional elements have proved insufficient and Gatilov said that “the Moroccan draft is not acceptable to us because it still contains provisions for sanctions against Syria and others that could be interpreted as authorising the use of force”.
Credibility of United Nations. During Tuesday's Council, Juppé, Hague and the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, urged the Security Council to support the resolution. Juppé announced that “we are meeting so that the scandalous silence from this Council is broken (…) It is its duty to speak out on cases as serious as those in Syria … by rapidly adopting, with broad support, the draft resolution”. Hague called on the Council to “immediately” support the Arab League's plan and said that, if it failed to do so, the credibility of the institution would be weakened, the Syrian people betrayed, and offence given to the Arab League. It would also mean that the Council was unable to assume the responsibilities incumbent on it.
On Wednesday, High Representative Catherine Ashton reiterated her call to Council members to assume their responsibilities and to immediately take action. The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Jean-Claude Mignon, urged Russia, which is part of the Council, “to take account of the progress that had been made” at the UN and vote for the resolution presented by the Arab League. He added: “We hope that Russia will not forget the commitments that it has made at the Council of Europe and that it has the same position at the UN Security Council, so that the resolution can be voted on”. (CG/transl.fl)