Major Powers Clash at Security Council over Syria Chemical Arms
Russia clashed once again with Western powers Tuesday as envoys drafted a U.N. resolution to add muscle to a plan to strip Syria of its chemical weapons.
U.S. President Barack Obama maintained his threat to launch military strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, even while cranking up the diplomatic pressure on Moscow.
Envoys from France, Britain and the United States launched talks on a resolution after Russia had revealed a surprise plan of its own to secure Assad's banned weapons.
But Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that any resolution under Chapter Seven of the U.N. charter, which authorizes enforcement measures, would be "unacceptable."
"Mr. Lavrov stressed (to his French counterpart Laurent Fabius) that France's proposal to seek approval at the U.N. Security Council for a resolution ..., that puts the responsibility for the possible use of chemical weapons on the Syrian authorities is unacceptable," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
But French Foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot told Agence France Presse later on Tuesday that Paris was "ready to amend (the) draft as long as its main principles and aims are preserved."
"It is astonishing that the Russians are rejecting a document that they haven't even seen," said Lalliot. "It is naturally our intention to discuss it with them."
Moscow's U.N. mission had called an urgent Security Council meeting for 2000 GMT but the session was postponed later at Russia's request.
No reason was given for calling off the closed talks among the 15 council members. "The meeting has been called off until further notice," said a council diplomat.
"Britain and France and America will be tabling a U.N. Security Council resolution today," UK Prime Minister David Cameron told British lawmakers earlier as officials from the three countries met at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Asked when the resolution should be introduced, Cameron told lawmakers: "I think that should happen today."
"I think we do need some deadlines, we do need some timetables. So I think in any Security Council resolution that we draft -- and Britain, France and America are discussing this right now -- we need to be clear there do need to be some thresholds," he said.
"This is not about... monitoring chemical weapons in Syria. It's got to be about handing them over to international control and their destruction."
The prime minister told British lawmakers the Russian proposals must be treated seriously, but also "tested out properly" to ensure they were not a "ruse."
He said a Security Council resolution "seems to me a good way of testing out the seriousness of a Russian offer and the seriousness of any Syrian response."
Cameron admitted that "things have moved faster than perhaps was anticipated." But he said the Russian response to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's statement that Syria could avert U.S.-led military action if it handed over its chemical arsenal to international control was "interesting."
"If they really mean this, let's test this out, let's see if this can be a way forward," he said.
"If we can achieve the removal and the destruction of the biggest chemical weapons arsenal in the world, that would be a significant step forward. So it's definitely worth exploring but we must be skeptical, we must be careful."
Speaking earlier in South Africa, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said any U.N. Security Council resolution must contain the threat of force.
"It certainly would need to be a Chapter Seven resolution to have any meaning and credibility on this subject," Hague said in Cape Town.
Hague said the world should remember "that it was only yesterday that Assad was denying the very existence of chemical weapons stocks" and that the Assad regime "has consistently failed to match its promises with actions."
Russia's proposal on Monday was seized upon by some as a way to dismantle Syria's nerve gas stockpile, but Western capitals remain deeply skeptical of both Moscow and Damascus' intent.
And Obama's top national security team insisted Tuesday that U.S. military action to punish Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons was still very much on the table.
They said the White House would examine the Russian initiative while still seeking domestic Congressional authorization for a limited package of missile strikes.
"We're waiting for that proposal. But we're not waiting for long," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.
In Paris, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that France was seeking a resolution to "provide for extremely serious consequences in the event of Syria violating its obligations."
And Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I think we do need some deadlines, we do need some timetables.
"This is not about someone monitoring chemical weapons in Syria. It's got to be about handing them over to international control and their destruction."
Obama was due to make a major national address to a skeptical U.S. public and Congress later in the day to ask for authorization to order missile strikes to punish Assad's regime.
U.S. intelligence alleges that on August 21, Assad's forces fired volleys of rockets armed with sarin gas at a dozen rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, killing more than 1,400 people.
Syria said Tuesday it would cooperate with the Russian plan to place its chemical weapons under international control, and hailed this as a victory against U.S. military threats.
But Russia has consistently blocked any Western attempt to sanction or restrain Damascus through U.N. resolutions.
Obama argues that Syria's use of sarin violates a decades-old international taboo against chemical arms, and has said he is prepared to launch a punitive strike.
First, however, he has offered to wait to see if he can win approval from the U.S. Congress, and has embarked on a media blitz to sell intervention to the American public.
Briefing a Congressional committee, Kerry alleged Syria has 1,000 metric tons of chemical weapons including components for mustard and sarin gas.
"Yesterday, we challenged the regime to turn them over to the secure control of the international community so that they could be destroyed," he told lawmakers.
Obama has said he is prepared to act alone or with a small coalition of allies, even if Russian opposition prevents a U.N. mandate.
But lawmakers remain wary of seeing U.S. forces dragged into a new Middle East conflict, and on Tuesday some were crafting a measure that would delay approval of the strikes.
"Basically, the AUMF (authorization for use of military force) would be conditional and triggered only if the Russian plan fails," a Senate aide told Agence France Presse.
In Damascus, civilians in Assad-controlled areas expressed relief that the U.S. strike plan appeared to be receding, and the government welcomed the rival Russian initiative.
Syrian rebel leaders were outraged however, denouncing international "apathy" and arguing that delays while the U.S. Congress or the U.N. Security Council debates bolstered the regime.
Source: Agence France Presse
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