Paris Says U.N. Draft on Syria Observers to be Discussed Thursday
Britain, France and the United States have drafted a U.N. Security Council resolution on the deployment of U.N. observers to Syria to be discussed Thursday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.
"We fully support the plan to deploy an observer mission on the ground," said Juppe, adding that the three countries had collaborated on the text.
"I have a hard time seeing how Russia could be opposed to this draft resolution," the French minister added, expressing optimism that Syria's traditional ally Moscow would back the text.
The draft resolution calls for "an advanced team of a few dozen observers in the coming days, to be immediately followed by a force that could number several hundred" observers, Juppe said after a meeting with his G8 counterparts in Washington.
The observers must be able to "move freely," independently of the Damascus regime, he added.
In New York, Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said earlier that the Security Council could pass a resolution on Friday for an international observer force that could start work in Syria next week.
Churkin told reporters that Russia, which has blocked two previous resolutions on Syria, would support the resolution.
He said at least 20 to 30 monitors should be in the initial force, which could be in place early next week.
Juppe cautioned, however, that differences remained with Moscow.
"We still disagree on how we analyze the situation. For us, it's not about sending the different actors on the ground back to back. The responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of the regime," he said.
The French envoy also expressed skepticism that the regime would fully abide by the ceasefire terms after the Syrian army failed to leave all urban centers as stipulated under the deal worked out by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
"It is still too early to express true satisfaction on how the situation has evolved. We have seen the Syrian government make announcements without following them too many times before," he said.
And France has "elements of evidence" that the Syrian regime has committed crimes against humanity, and could take the government before the international courts at an appropriate time, Juppe added.
Annan's plan aims to put an end to 13 months of bloodshed which the U.N. says has left more than 9,000 people dead, most of them civilians.
Source: Agence France Presse
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