To
Extend
Syria Mission,
West Drops
Troops to
Barracks
Condition
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Partial
exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 20 -- In
order to avoid
a second day
of vetoes, the
European
sponsors of
Friday's Syria
mission
resolution
made a
significant
change to
their draft.
As Inner City
Press first
reported,
putting the
new draft
online prior
to the vote,
they
dropped the
condition that
Assad's troops
should leave
cities and
return to
barracks.
Click here
to view the
final text,
compared to
the draft.
Also see
below.
Inner
City
Press asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
about dropping
the
condition of
"pullback of
military
concentrations
in and around
population
centers, as
well as to
withdraw its
troops and
heavy
weapons from
population
centers to
their
barracks."
Rice
emphasized
that the US
was not a
sponsor of the
resolution --
in
fact, as Inner
City Press first
reported, Rice
on Thursday
when asked
if the US
wanted the
UNSMIS mission
extended said
no -- and
urged
Inner City
Press to
"speak to the
author, who I
think will be
coming behind
me. We
frankly prefer
the text that
included all
of paragraph 2
[of
Resolution
2043],
but we were
able to accept
the draft that
was voted
today."
The
UK's
Mark Lyall
Grant was
next, and to
his and his
spokesman's
credit
took the
question.
Lyall Grant
said Syria
must comply
with all
aspects of the
Six Point
Plan,
including
"paragraph two
which as
you rightly
say...
including
return of
troops to the
barracks."
He
said
"some Members
of the Council
argued that we
were setting
the bar too
high for a
possible
extension of
UNSMIS, so we
decided to
focus that
condition on
the one posed
a direct
threat to the
Security of
the mission."
Germany's
Peter
Wittig
followed, and
also took the
Press
question,
unlike
previously.
He said, we
had
consultations
this morning,
so we tried
our best to
come together.
That was a
change in the
spirit of
compromise to
get
everybody
behind the
draft.
Inner
City
Press asked
China's
Permanent
Representative
Li Baodong
about
the change. He
said, there
are a lot of
new
developments,
we want to
see Kofi
Annan's
mediation
continue.
When
Russia's
Vitaly Churkin
came out,
Inner City
Press asked
him about
Thursday's
statement by
US President
Obama's
spokesman Jay
Carney
that the Annan
plan "failed
thus far, yes.
And the
failure of
the Security
Council to
support this
resolution
means that it
can't
go forward."
Churkin
disagreed,
saying "Kofi
Annan
continues his
work, the key
ingredient is
to
try to put
together a
dialogue
between the
government and
the
opposition."
Churkin
was
told that he'd
said "this
extension
gives Kofi
Annan a
chance," and
was asked if
"the new
meeting of
Friends of
Syria might
disrupt this
process."
Churkin
scoffed, let's
not
make a rigid
linkage
between Kofi
Annan and the
monitoring
mission.
Later
Inner
City Press
asked Churkin
specifically
about what was
deleted
from the UK
draft, and
why. He smiled
and said,
"Matthew, the
Security
Council holds
closed
consultations
to keep some
secrets. You
want us to
give you all
the secrets
about the work
of the
Security
Council. Then
we could
invite you...
to answer all
your
questions."
Well, why not?
From
the
outside it
seems that
faced with the
threat of a
second day of
vetoes, and
with the
prospect of
the UN and
Security
Council become
even more
irrelevant to
the Syrian
crisis, the
European
agreed to
this change,
and the US
went along,
while calling
it 30 days to
pull
out. So the
can is kicked
down the road;
there will be
more Security
Council fights
around Ban
Ki-moon's 15
day report,
and whether to
extend further
in 30 days.
Watch this
site.
Here is the
modified draft
approved on
July 20, 2012:
Commending the
efforts of the
United Nations
Supervision
Mission in
Syria
(UNSMIS),
1.Decides to
renew the
mandate of
UNSMIS for a
final period
of 30 days,
taking into
consideration
the
Secretary-General’s
recommendations
to reconfigure
the Mission,
and taking
into
consideration
the
operational
implications
of the
increasingly
dangerous
security
situation in
Syria;
2.Calls
upon the
parties to
assure the
safety of
UNSMIS
personnel
without
prejudice to
its freedom of
movement and
access, and
stresses that
the primary
responsibility
in this regard
lies with the
Syrian
authorities;
3.Expresses
its
willingness to
renew the
mandate of
UNSMIS
thereafter
only in the
event that the
Secretary-General
reports and
the Security
Council
confirms the
cessation of
the use of
heavy weapons
and a
reduction in
the level of
violence
sufficient to
allow UNSMIS
to implement
its mandate;
4.Requests the
Secretary-General
to report to
the Council on
the
implementation
of this
resolution
within 15
days;
5.Decides to
remain seized
of the matter.
Dropped
is the
reference to
"full
implementation
of paragraph 2
of resolution
2043."
From the
US Mission's
transcript:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to
ask-it seems
like this
paragraph 2 of
the
resolution
2043 was in
the UK draft
and got
dropped, and
it's-among the
things getting
dropped are
pullback of
military
concentrations
out of
population
centers and
withdraw to
barracks. Does
this
compromise
mean
that the U.S.
doesn't expect
those things
to take place?
Or what's the
significance
of the change?
Ambassador
Rice: Well, as
you know, the
United States
was not the
author
of the
resolution.
I'd let you
speak to the
author, who I
think will be
coming behind
me. We
frankly prefer
the text that
included all
of
paragraph 2,
but we were
able to accept
the draft that
was voted
today.
From
the UK
Mission's
transcript:
Inner
City Press: It
seems like you
had initially
proposed as a
condition for
possible, you
know,
extending
beyond the 30
days, full
implementation
of this
paragraph two
and looking at
what’s left in
the
resolution, as
passed, it
seems to drop
out the idea
of pulling
back military
concentration
for population
centres and
returning
troops to
barracks, so I
mean I
understand
that
compromise is
necessary, but
what message
does this send
and is that
still a kind
of an unspoken
condition for
the UK for
extending the
Mission, of
what does it
mean that it
came out? How
can you
explain that?
Amb Lyall
Grant: I
would make two
points about
that. Firstly,
there is a
clear
obligation on
the part of
the Syrian
authorities to
comply with
all aspects of
the six point
plan and one
of the early
points of the
six point plan
is this
paragraph two
of resolution
2043, which as
you rightly
say, has a
number of
demands on the
Syrian
authorities,
including the
cessation of
use of heavy
weapons, but
also the
pullback of
troops to the
barracks.
However some
Members of the
Council argued
that we were
setting the
bar too high
for a possible
extension of
UNSMIS, so we
decided to
focus that
condition on
the one posed
a direct
threat to the
Security of
the mission,
because
clearly, if
the government
is using heavy
weapons,
including now
in Damascus,
then it puts
the lives of
UNSMIS at
risks and that
why we
focussed it on
there, but we
have also
said, and this
second
condition is
extremely
important,
that the
overall level
of violence
must be
reduced in
this 30 days
to a level
which would
allow UNSMIS
to carry out
its original
mandate and I
would like to
remind you
that its
original
mandate was to
oversee the
ceasefire and
secondly, to
monitor
implementation
of the six
point plan.
That is still
the purpose of
UNSMIS and we
hope that over
the next 30
days that
there will be
some change in
the dynamic
which would
allow it to
fulfil that
function, but
if that does
not happen,
then obviously
it will be
withdrawn
after 30 days.
, 
