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The United States and Russia finally agreed a draft UN Security Council resolution Thursday on destroying Syria’s chemical weapons.
The 15-member council held its first talks on the text late Thursday and a vote could be held on Friday, diplomats said.
The United Nations has also called ministers from the major powers to a meeting Friday to try to name a date for a Syria peace conference.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters “an understanding” with the United States had been reached on a draft resolution and a joint disarmament plan to be approved by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
US Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile, said the international community “can now move forward and give life hopefully to the removal and destruction of chemical weapons from Syria”.
The resolution accord was announced after new talks between Lavrov and Kerry.
For his part, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius still called the proposed resolution “a step forward” and added “we are satisfied”.
Resolution Draft
The draft US-Russian resolution does not propose immediate measures over a chemical attack in a Damascus suburb a month ago. But it allows for possible sanctions — after a new vote — if there are breaches of a disarmament plan.
The text says the council “decides in event of non-compliance with this resolution, including unauthorized transfer of chemical weapons or any use of chemical weapons by anyone in the Syrian Arab Republic, to impose measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter”.
It says the council would “promptly” consider measures if the world chemical weapons watchdog or UN leader Ban Ki-moon report a breach of a Russia-US disarmament plan.
Chapter VII can allow sanctions or military force. But diplomats said there would have to be a new vote for any action and predicted there would be a fierce new debate with Russia.
If agreed, the resolution would be the first passed by the panel on Syria since the conflict started in March 2011.
The United Nations has also called ministers from the major powers to a meeting Friday to try to name a date for a Syria peace conference.
Source: Al Manar
