On
Syria, Saudi
Resolution
Cites Chemical
Weapons, ICP
Obtains Draft
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, July
27 -- An hour
after Saudi
Arabia's
Permanent
Representative
Abdallah
al-Mouallimi
told Inner
City Press
that the
Syria
resolution
he is drafting
will be
presented to
the General
Assembly "next
week, Monday,"
Inner City
Press obtained
the
draft, and is
now
putting it
online here.
The
draft
resolution, of
course,
deplored and
denounced, and
mentions
chemical
weapons:
"7.
Demands that
the Syrian
authorities
strictly
observe their
obligations
under
international
law with
respect to
chemical and
biological
weapons,
including the
Protocol for
the
Prohibition of
the
Use in War of
Asphyxiating,
Poisonous or
Other Gases,
and of
Bacteriological
Methods of
Warfare,
signed at
Geneva on 17
June 1925"
This
1925 signing
was cited by
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
this week
on the Charlie
Rose show. The
Saudi
draft goes
on and
"further
demands
that the
Syrian
authorities
refrain from
using,
transferring,
producing,
developing or
otherwise
acquiring any
chemical or
biological
weapons or any
related
material, and
that the
Syrian
authorities
meet their
obligation to
account for
and secure all
chemical and
biological
weapons and
any related
material."
Again,
the General
Assembly
cannot impose
sanctions or
authorize any
use of
force. Its
credential
committee can
withdraw
accreditation,
as it did
for diplomats
representing
Gaddafi's
Libya and the
Cote d'Ivoire
of
Laurent
Gbagbo.
In
Syria, UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous is
already
dismantling
the
observer
mission which
the Security
Council
extended for a
month back
on July 20.
Both
Saudi Arabia
and Qatar,
whose former
Permanent
Representative
is now
President of
the General
Assembly, are
widely
reported to be
arming
the rebels in
Syria. They
stand accused,
too, of
involvement
with the
extremist who
are destroying
mausoleums in
Timbuktu in
northern Mali.
Whatever the
legality, they
now have
another GA
resolution.
Saudi's
Ambassador
also spoke on
July 25 at the
UN stakeout
about
Palestine.
Inner City
Press asked
him about the
effectiveness
of the Quartet
and
whether it
should
continue. He
stopped and
said, on
camera, it
should
continue, but
take up its
responsibilities.
Watch this
site.
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