March 21, 2012
By RICK GLADSTONE
Overcoming months of bitter division, the United Nations Security Council delivered a diplomatic setback to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Wednesday, unanimously embracing efforts by Kofi Annan, the former secretary general, to negotiate a cease-fire in the year-old Syria conflict, funnel aid to victims and begin a political transition in the country.
In a diplomatic document known as a presidential statement that was read out in a formal session, the 15-member council expressed its “gravest concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria, which has resulted in a serious human rights crisis and a deplorable humanitarian situation.”
Russia and China, which used their vetoes on the council to block past efforts to adopt a resolution on the Syrian conflict, ageed to the statement that was issued Wednesday.
It endorsed a plan by Mr. Annan, publicly revealed in detail for the first time, that he had presented to Mr. Assad in meetings earlier this month as the special representative of both the United Nations and the Arab League.
The statement said Mr. Annan’s plan would “facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition.”
The plan, which closely resembles an Arab League proposal that Mr. Assad has rejected, calls for all combatants to immediately stop fighting, for the military to withdraw from populated areas, for a U.N.-supervised truce and for the provision of humanitarian assistance, the release of all arbitrarily detained persons, freedom of movement for journalists and freedom for peaceful demonstrations. It warns of unspecified “further steps” if Mr. Annan’s plan is not carried out.
The statement does not have the enforcement muscle of a formal Security Council resolution, but it reflected some significant diplomatic bridging of disagreements that had principally pitted Western and Arab countries against Russia, which has been Mr. Assad’s most important supporter.
Russia’s endorsement of the statement is an embarrassment for Mr. Assad, who has consistently refused to negotiate with his political opponents and characterized the uprising as a terrorist crime wave. More than 8,000 people have been killed and thousands more have been displaced in Syria since protests against his autocratic rule first began in March 2011.
There was no immediate reaction from Mr. Assad himself. But the state-run Syria Arab News Agency, in a brief dispatch on the Security Council’s action, emphasized that it satisfied Russia’s insistence that it contain no “final ultimatums, threats or try to solve the problem through proposing unilateral demands.”
The United States, which had previously blamed Russia for obstructing the Security Council’s ability to reach an agreement on Syria, praised the statement. “It’s is a positive step. The council has now spoken with one voice,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters in Washington. “To President Assad and his regime we say, along with the rest of the international community: take this path, commit to it, or face increasing pressure and isolation.”
Mr. Annan’s spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, also expressed gratitude, saying in a statement that Mr. Annan was “encouraged by the united support of the Security Council and urges the Syrian authorities to respond positively.”
Russia, backed by China, had twice vetoed earlier draft resolutions on Syria, arguing they would violate Syria’s sovereignty by forcing a change in government and possibly leading to foreign military intervention, as happened in Libya last year. Russia had also said that any Syria measure by the council should blame both Mr. Assad and his armed antagonists for the deaths and mayhem engulfing the country.
But Mr. Assad’s military forces sharply escalated their attacks on the opposition after the last veto in early February, seemingly interpreting it as a green light to crush domestic resistance with impunity. What followed were intense military assaults on opposition enclaves in the cities of Homs, Idlib and Dara’a that were widely condemned abroad. Even Russian officials showed increasing impatience with Mr. Assad, and on Tuesday,
Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov said Mr. Assad had many “many mistakes” over the past year.
Speaking to reporters after the Security Council session, Russia’s ambassador, Vitaly I. Churkin, sought to frame its unanimous action as a vindication of Russia’s position, partly because it does not explicitly call for Mr. Assad to step down, contains no ultimatums and ascribes responsibility for the conflict to all combatants — not just Mr. Assad.
“We are very pleased,” he said. “The Security Council has finally chosen to take a pragmatic look at the situation in Syria.”
Mr. Churkin said the intent was to “end the violence as quickly as possible. It exactly corresponds to what we’ve been advocating at the council since the outset of the crisis.”
The Security Council also issued a press statement, which Russia had proposed, that condemned the bombing attacks on Syrian government targets in Damascus and Aleppo in recent days, which Mr. Assad has blamed on his opponents. The press statement describes those attacks as terrorism.
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