Syria
"Informals"
Set for 3pm on
Saudi Draft
Reviving What
P3+1 Dropped
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July 31 -- On
Syria at the
UN, there are
constant
echoes,
reversions and
delays.
On Friday,
Saudi Arabia's
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press his
draft
resolution on
Syria
would be
in the General
Assembly on
Monday, July
30.
But
when July 30
came, there
was only a by
invitation
only meeting
at the
French Mission
to the UN,
described to
Inner City
Press by a
participant.
Now, more
formal
"informal
consultations"
on
the Saudi
(French?)
draft are set
for Tuesday,
July 31 at 3
pm.
And, they say,
the vote is
slated for
Thursday,
August 2.
The
draft itself
revives a
demand that
France,
Germany, the
UK and US
agreed to drop
from the July
20 resolution
extending the
UN Mission
in Syria for
30 days: that
the Assad
government
must "withdraw
its troops and
heavy weapons
to their
barracks
contrary to
paragraph
2 of
resolution
2042 (2012)
and paragraph
2 of
resolution
2043
(2012)."
The
"P3 + 1"
agreed to drop
this from an
earlier UK
draft about
UNSMIS.
When Inner
City Press
questioned
each
ambassador
except
France's --
this wasn't
allowed --
about the
omission, US
Ambassador
Susan Rice
said to "ask
the author."
This
is now the
first
"operative"
paragraph of
the General
Assembly
resolution:
"1.
Condemns the
Syrian
authorities’
increasing use
of heavy
weapons,
including
indiscriminate
shelling from
tanks and
helicopters,
in
population
centres and
failure to
withdraw its
troops and
heavy
weapons to
their barracks
contrary to
paragraph 2 of
resolution
2042
(2012) and
paragraph 2 of
resolution
2043 (2012)."
The
word
"operative" is
in quotation
marks because
the General
Assembly does
not have, even
on paper, the
power to bind
UN member
states.
So the return
to barracks
demand was
dropped from
the
resolution of
the body which
could demand
it, only to
re-appear as a
non-binding
paragraph
condemn that
it hasn't
happened.
Some
would say,
given the
state of
fighting in
Syria and the
open arming
of the rebels,
that it is not
realistic that
the Assad
government
would order
all its
soldiers back
to the
barracks. Yes,
some would
say that. But
it is easier
to pass a
General
Assembly
resolution.
Watch this
site.
, 
