UN stalls on Syria
Immediate ceasefire is ‘unrealistic’, says Russia as attacks on eastern Ghouta continue and the civilian death toll rises.
NEW YORK The United Nations Security Council has delayed a vote on a resolution demanding a 30-day humanitarian ceasefire across Syria until today, in the hope of closing a gap over the timing for a halt to the fighting.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia yesterday called an immediate ceasefire unrealistic, and in an apparent bid to get Russian support, sponsors Kuwait and Sweden amended the draft resolution to drop a demand that the ceasefire take effect 72 hours after the resolution’s adoption. Instead, the new text ‘‘ demands that all parties cease hostilities without delay’’.
Earlier, after six hours of negotiations, Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaiba, the current council president, said its members were ‘‘so close’’ to an agreement, and negotiations were continuing.
The latest draft resolution says a ceasefire must be followed immediately by access for humanitarian convoys and medical teams to evacuate the critically ill and wounded.
It states that 5.6 million people in 1244 communities are in ‘‘acute need’’, including 2.9 million in hard-to-reach and besieged locations.
A Russian-proposed amendment, which the sponsors rejected, would have ruled out an immediate ceasefire. Instead, it would have demanded that all parties ‘‘stop hostilities as soon as possible’’ and work for a ‘‘humanitarian pause’’ for at least 30 days.
Sweden’s UN Ambassador Olof Skoog echoed Al-Otaiba, saying that council members had been ‘‘very, very close’’ to an agreement ‘‘but we have not been able to close the gap completely’’.
Skoog said he was ‘‘extremely frustrated’’ that the council was unable to adopt the resolution on Friday or yesterday, because the situation in Syria was dire and demanded immediate council action.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who did not participate in yesterday’s negotiations, tweeted: ‘‘Unbelievable that Russia is stalling a vote on a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access in Syria. How many more people will die before the Security Council agrees to take up this vote?’’
Sweden and Kuwait, and their council supporters, have been pressing for immediate action as deaths mount in a Syrian bombing campaign in the rebelheld suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta.
‘‘It is about saving lives,’’ Skoog said earlier. ‘‘UN convoys and evacuation teams are ready to go. It’s time for the council to come together and shoulder its responsibility to urgently avert a situation that is beyond words in its desperation.’’
The draft resolution would authorise one exemption from the ceasefire. It would allow attacks directed at extremists from Islamic State and all al Qaeda affiliates, including the Nusra Front, to continue.
The Syrian government and its Russian allies say they are pursuing Islamist extremists they call ‘‘terrorists’’. US-backed forces are also going after Isis and al Qaeda militants.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an immediate suspension of ‘‘all war activities’’ in eastern Ghouta, where he said 400,000 people were living ‘‘in hell on Earth’’.
Syrian government warplanes carried out a sixth day of air strikes yesterday in the rebel-held suburbs east of Damascus, killing 32 people, activists said, as the death toll from a week of bombardment soared over 400.
The new bombings came a day after Syrian army helicopters dropped leaflets over the rebelcontrolled areas of eastern Ghouta, urging residents of those suburbs to leave for their own safety and calling on opposition fighters to surrender because they were surrounded by government troops.
Opposition activists reported air strikes and artillery shelling on a string of towns on the edge of Damascus or eastern Ghouta.
At least 32 people were killed in raids on areas including Hammouriyeh, Zamalka, Douma and al-Marj, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors the civil war through a network of activists in Syria.
The Ghouta Media Centre, an activist collective, also reported 32 killed.
Syrian state TV reported that insurgents fired 70 shells on Damascus, killing one person and wounding 60 others. It said one of the shells hit a hospital, damaging its intensive care unit.
The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defence rescue group reported new air strikes in Douma, Arbeen and other towns east of Damascus.
At the White House, US President Donald Trump blamed Russia, Iran and the Syrian government for the recent violence in Syria, calling it a ‘‘humanitarian disgrace’’ at a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura called again for an urgent ceasefire to relieve the ‘‘appalling suffering’’ of civilians in eastern Ghouta by stopping the bombing there and the ‘‘indiscriminate’’ shelling of Damascus. He said the cease-fire had to be followed by an ‘‘immediate, unhindered humanitarian access to eastern Ghouta and evacuation of sick and injured.’’
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said GETTY IMAGES ‘‘unhindered humanitarian access and the protection of civilians is a moral duty and a matter of urgency’’.
Russia has been a main backer of Syrian President Bashar alAssad and has joined the battle on his side since 2015, tipping the balance of power in his favour. Opposition activists say Russian warplanes are taking part in the bombing of eastern Ghouta.
A main Syrian opposition group said the international community should prevent Russia from voting on the security council resolution, as Moscow was part of the conflict.
Salwa Aksoy, vice-president of the Syrian National Coalition, said that according to the UN Charter, countries that were part of a conflict had no right to vote on draft resolutions.
‘‘What is happening in Ghouta is a war of annihilation and crimes against humanity,’’ Aksoy said. She blamed Assad’s government as well as Russia and Iran for the violence. AP