France to table UNSC resolution on Syria Jean-Yves Le Drian
Jean-Yves Le Drian

Jean-Yves Le Drian

PARIS. — France said yesterday it would table a UN Security Council resolution calling on Syria to put its chemical weapons beyond use or face “extremely serious” reprisals.
The resolution will also demand that the individuals responsible for an August 21 chemical attack on two Damascus suburbs be put on trial at the International Criminal Court, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told a Press conference.

Fabius said the resolution would demand full disclosure by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of its weapons programme, and that the arsenal be placed immediately under international control and then dismantled.

The minister said the resolution would be presented under chapter seven of the UN Charter, which provides a basis for military action.
“It will provide for extremely serious consequences in the event of Syria violating its obligations,” Fabius said, adding that discussions on a draft resolution were set to begin at the Security Council later yesterday.

Diplomats in New York said they were anticipating several days of intense discussions before any text is put to the Security Council.
The French UN move came a day after Russia presented a proposal for Syria to cede control of its chemical weapons in order to avoid punitive military strikes threatened by the United States and France.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that his officials had begun talks with the Syrians on a “concrete plan” to put the chemical weapons beyond use.

“We (Russia) are currently working on preparing a workable, precise and concrete plan and for this there are literally right now, in these minutes, contacts with the Syrian side,” Lavrov told a Press conference in Moscow.

“And we expect to present this plan soon and we will be ready to work on it with the UN secretary-general, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, with the participation of members of the UN Security Council,” he added.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday that Russia’s initiative demonstrated that international pressure, backed by the threat of military action, had worked, but warned that Syria had to act swiftly to prove its good faith.

“It’s an opening. It must be seized upon and Bashar al-Assad’s regime must formally respond and firmly engage to it, and it must be implemented quickly,” Le Drian said. — AFP/ Xinhua.

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