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7921st Security Council Meeting: Situation in Middle East; Syria
We Don’t Have Chemical Weapons, Stresses Permanent Representative, Insisting Damascus Sought Investigation of Attack
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to Syria said today that, in the wake of the chemical attack on civilians in that country, there was an opportunity to redouble efforts for a political settlement of a conflict that could have no definitive military outcome.
Briefing the Security Council, Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said that intensified fighting and a lack of unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance endangered the fragile progress made during a fifth round of negotiations in Geneva last month. The chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians in Khan Shaykhun “that shocked the conscience of the human family”, and a subsequent United States missile strike on a Syrian air base at Shayrat, had been followed by more fighting, amid fresh claims that cluster weapons and barrel bombs had been used.
Warning that spoilers opposing the peace process would stop at nothing to undermine it, he said talks that could resume in Geneva in May must move from a preparatory stage to “the heart of the matter”, following the road map endorsed in Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), which envisioned a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition to end the conflict.
Noting the current visit to Moscow by the Secretary of State of the United States, he said that country and the Russian Federation had serious differences, but also common interests and responsibilities. They must find a way to come together and stabilize the situation in support of the political process. The guarantors of the ceasefire in Syria must “step up and deliver now”, he emphasized. There could only be a political rather than a military solution to the conflict, despite what some might attempt or believe, he stressed, adding that Syrians from all walks of life had told him as much, and that the Council had long agreed.
The ensuing debate revealed divisions among Council members, with the representative of the United States stressing that the Russian Federation must stop covering for the President of Syria and push for peace. Calling for a real ceasefire and a genuine effort towards peace talks, she described Iran as a “chief accomplice” in Syria’s actions, with Hizbullah providing support. Pointing out that the Council had repeatedly declared that there could be no military solution, it must hold those pursuing that route to account.
Her counterpart from the Russian Federation said his country had been communicating with the Government of Syria with a view to advancing negotiations towards a political solution, and expected the Geneva process to continue without pause. Urging all patriotically motivated Syrian parties to participate in the talks on an equal footing, he said there should be an all-inclusive opposition party. A comprehensive investigation into the chemical attacks was needed and he expressed surprise that a French team had already announced results implicating Damascus even without visiting the area in question.
On that point, the United Kingdom delegate said tests showing the use of sarin in Khan Shaykhun demonstrated that the Assad regime had not honoured the Astana process, thus ruining the Russian Federation’s credibility. There was no place in Syria’s future for its current President.
Bolivia’s representative, calling for an independent investigation into the chemical attack, expressed surprise that assumptions had been made about that incident. He wondered who was benefiting from the conflict and from the Council’s division on the matter. Those gaining the most were terrorists of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh). He expressed hope that the Council would free Syrians from the nightmare of war instead of leading them into an “unescapable dead end”. Kazakhstan’s delegate meanwhile emphasized the need for a regional approach that would involve Syria’s neighbours.
Syria’s representative, addressing the Council after a three-month absence, said that during that period he had taken part in the Astana and Geneva talks, recalled having been present in 2003 when the then-United States Secretary of State had said that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. In Syria, he said, Washington was switching from proxy aggression through armed groups to direct action. Its 7 April missile strike on the Shayrat air base had been carried out under the pretext of responding to chemical attacks on Khan Shaykun, an area under Nusrah Front control, which distracted from the real perpetrators — terrorist groups.
“We do not have chemical weapons,” he reiterated, insisting that Syria had sought an investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to determine those responsible for the attack. During the Geneva talks, Syria had submitted a number of proposals for a political solution, but had found no partner “across the table” with whom to work on counter-terrorism efforts, he said, vowing nevertheless that Syria would spare no effort to support any genuine endeavour that would allow Syrians to chart their own future.
Also speaking today were representatives of Egypt, France, Uruguay, Senegal, Japan, China, Sweden, Ethiopia, Italy and Ukraine.
The meeting began at 10:08 a.m. and ended at 12:16 p.m.
