Thursday, May 16, 2013
(This story was originally published Wednesday.)
By Joe Lauria
The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a transitional government in Syria, rejecting Russia's plea that the measure could undermine a planned peace conference on the Syrian crisis.
The measure passed on Wednesday with 107 countries voting in favor, 12 against and 59 abstaining. Russia, China and Iran, Syria's three main foreign backers, voted against the measure, along with several Latin American countries. General Assembly resolutions aren't legally binding but express the political will of the international community.
The Qatari-drafted resolution passed after five revisions, which toned down overt support for arming and recognizing the rebels as Syria's legitimate government and added a passing reference to crimes rebels may have committed. It avoids mention of the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Qatar has been arming the rebels, Western diplomats said.
Instead, the Assembly called for an "inclusive" Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, pluralistic political system through the start of serious political dialogue between credible, empowered and mutually acceptable parties representing Syrian authorities and the opposition.
An earlier draft used stronger diplomatic language, saying it "supported" an Arab League decision in March to give Syria's seat to the opposition and to arm the rebels. The adopted resolution instead "welcomes" that decision. Western nations backed the revisions in an effort to garner more votes, a Western diplomat said.
The resolution condemns a litany of government human-rights abuses but only briefly mentions possible abuses by antigovernment armed groups, despite increasing rebel atrocities reported by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
On Wednesday, rebels launched a coordinated assault on Aleppo's main prison in a bid to free hundreds of regime opponents believed to be held there, activists said, while an Internet blackout hit the country for the second time in two weeks, the Associated Press reported.
Russia argued that even in its revised form, the resolution was unbalanced and threatens a planned peace conference announced by Russia and the U.S. for June. The conference is in the early stages of planning with agreement of the warring parties to attend still being sought, diplomats said.
Bashar Ja'afari, Syria's U.N. ambassador, rejected the resolution, saying it "seeks to escalate the crisis and fuel violence by legitimizing arming the rebels."
He said it also adopted an illegal recognition of certain factions of the external opposition as "the legitimate representative of the Syrian people," adding that "this internally divided faction doesn't even represent the full spectra of the opposition itself, neither inside or outside Syria."
The resolution comes as the Syrian conflict escalates, threatening to draw in the country's neighbors. In recent weeks, there have been allegations by both sides of chemical-weapons use, two Israeli airstrikes inside Syria, the kidnapping of U.N. peacekeepers by rebels, an increased involvement in the war by Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon, and weekend car bombings in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli that killed at least 50 people. The U.N. says 80,000 people have been killed since the civil war erupted in March 2011.
European Union diplomats on Wednesday said a U.K.-led push to relax the arms embargo on Syria this month looks likely to stall, with most member states wanting to give the latest Syria peace initiatives more time before moving toward arming the opposition.
However some of the EU's biggest members suggest the embargo could be rolled over for a few weeks to give the EU the flexibility to quickly relax it if peace talks make no progress, the diplomats said.
Alexander Pankin, Russia's deputy ambassador, called the resolution "very harmful and destructive." He said it is aimed at pushing an attempt to replace Syria's government and can only be seen as an encouragement to the rebels to keep fighting.
Mr. Pankin said the "resolution seeks to blame only the government" and ignores terrorist activities by jihadists that have left hundreds of civilians dead, killings he said independent U.N. investigations recognized.
Gerard Araud, the French ambassador, acknowledged terrorism exists in Syria, though it isn't mentioned in the resolution. He said the Assembly's move was necessary because Russia and China had blocked three Security Council measures that would have condemned crimes by both sides.
"For 50 years, we have been dealing with the Assad regime imprisoning and torturing the opposition," he said. "Today we are dealing with a weak and fragmented opposition that we must work with to go to Geneva" for the peace conference.
South Africa complained that a request by the U.N.'s African group of nations to suspend the vote until after June's conference was ignored. Numerous countries also told the Assembly that the resolution was drafted without consulting the full Assembly membership.
"South Africa would like to express its disappointment that the General Assembly resolution has the potential to exacerbate rather than solve the crisis," said Jeremiah Nyamane Kingsley Mamabolo, Pretoria's new U.N. envoy.
He said the resolution "clearly blames one side only and could force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to retreat to an uncompromising position," adding that "we should give the diplomatic process a chance and not prejudge its outcome."
-Laurence Norman and Stacy Meichtry contributed to this article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
16-05-13 0348GMT
