○ LIVE: UN Security Council to discuss Syria peace process resolution
UN security council agree resolution on Syrian peace process | The Guardian |
According to the AP, the text did not make explicit mention of the role Assad would play. It reportedly calls the transition towards a new government Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, stressing that the “Syrian people will decide the future” of the country.
It also requests that UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon convene representatives of the Syrian government and opposition “to engage in formal negotiations on a political transition process on an urgent basis, with a target of early January 2016 for the initiation of talks”.
Within six months, the process should establish “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance,” with UN-supervised “free and fair elections” to be held within 18 months, the AP reoported.
The draft resolution would call on the UN to prepare options for a mechanism to monitor a ceasefire within one month of the document’s adoption, according to Reuters. Furthermore, the agency said, it would endorse the continued battle to defeat Islamic State militants.
After the text was agreed on Friday, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, set about the task of briefing the remaining 10 members of the council on it ahead of the meeting, Reuters reported, citing unnamed diplomats.
The US, China and Russia are all permanent members of the UN security council, as are France and the UK.
The 10 non-permanent members, to whom the text was being briefed ahead of the meeting, currently include Spain, Nigeria and New Zealand. Also represented are Angola, Chile and Malaysia, as well as Jordan, Lithuania, Venezuela and Chad.
[Update] ○ UN RESOLUTION 2254 HAS BEEN ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY 15-0
Statement made by John Kerry in his capacity as Secretary of State of the United States.
Excellent speech by John Kerry followed by a statement of his Russian colleague, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
[Update-2] ‘Assad Has Got to Go’
Guess President Obama wasn’t briefed on the latest developments and
JoeSusanJohn hasn’t got his ear on diplomacy concerning hot spots.○ Secretary Kerry Addresses UN Security Council on Syria
Secretary @JohnKerry addresses the @UN
Security Council on the road forward in #Syria.Specifically, Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra will be excluded from negotiations in a transition process.
Syria: UN chief meets with international partners on resolving crisis
18 December 2015 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today joined diplomats from the International Syria Support Group meeting in New York to discuss a solution to the country’s five-year war, and he is expected to brief the Security Council later today on the latest developments.
According to the Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Mr. Ban, accompanied by his Special Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, took part in the meeting outside UN Headquarters of the International Support Group, comprised of the Arab League, the European Union, the United Nations, and 17 countries.
The Security Council is expected to meet at the Ministerial level later today on Syria and the UN chief is expected to brief.
After the Support’s Group’s 14 December meeting in Vienna, the participants, among other things, expressed a unanimous sense of urgency to end the suffering of the Syrian people, the physical destruction of Syria, the destabilization of the region, and the resulting increase in terrorists drawn to the fighting in Syria.
“The [group] acknowledged the close linkage between a ceasefire and a parallel political process pursuant to the 2012 Geneva Communiqué [pdf], and that both initiatives should move ahead expeditiously,” the statement noted, highlighting that the members also stated their commitment to ensure a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition.
See my diary 4 days ago – Recent Developments On A Diplomatic Solution for Syria – Conferences.