U.S. leads new draft resolution on Syria

The U.N. Security Council’s five big powers, plus Morocco, began negotiations today on a U.S.-authored draft resolution demanding that Syria end its violent crackdown on protesters and opposition groups and allow the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance.

The U.S. draft would throw the Security Council’s weight behind an effort by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is serving as a joint U.N./Arab League envoy to Syria, to mediate and end the crisis. It would also threaten to consider "further measures" against Syria if it fails to comply with the council’s demands.

"We have just begun today preliminary discussions among the permanent five members of the Security Council plus Morocco about whether there is any possibility of reaching agreement around a potential text that would demand an end to the violence in Syria and demand immediate humanitarian access," Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said in a statement after the first round of talks. "These discussions are just beginning and will continue. If and when, it seems there is a basis for a meaningful and viable text, we will propose one to the full Security Council."

The American push at the U.N. follows more than a week of discrete efforts by Rice and other U.S. officials to persuade their Russian counterparts to support a tougher approach to Syria at the United Nations. Russia, backed by China, has already vetoed two resolutions condemning Syria’s conduct during an 11-month-long campaign to crush a popular uprising. More than 7,500 people have been killed, mostly at the hands of Syrian security forces.

The U.S. draft — which was posted by Al Hurra’s reporter Nabil Abi-Saab — "condemns the continued widespread, systematic, and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities and demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to such violations." It also demands that Syrian authorities "immediately allow unhindered humanitarian access for all populations in need of assistance." And it calls for perpetrators of human rights violations to be held accountable.

The draft also calls on all armed elements in Syria, including the opposition forces from the Free Syria Army, to refrain from violence — but only after the Syrian military withdraws its military and armed forces from Syrian cities and towns.

The text seeks to place the Security Council behind an Arab League initiative that demands Syria cease all violence, protect its population, release political prisoners, and agree to the establishment of a transitional government of national unity headed by an individual selected by the government and the opposition.

Russia and China vetoed a resolution making similar demands on the grounds that the Arab League had no authority to impose a political solution on Syria, and insisting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad play a role in any political reform plan.

In an effort to overcome Russian objections, the United States included language stating that the 15-nation council "fully supports" a U.N. African Union effort, led by Kofi Annan, to facilitate a "Syrian-led political transition to a democratic pluralistic political system." In the event that Syria refuses to comply with the council’s demands, the draft states that the Security Council will meet within 14 days of the resolution’s passage to "consider swiftly further measures."

Follow me on Twitter @columlynch