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 Australia, Jordan and Luxembourg finalized the draft on Wednesday,
which includes demands for cross-border aid access, an end to
shelling and aerial bombardment — including barrel bombs — and
threatens "further steps" in the event of non-compliance.
These were among the main sticking points during almost two weeks of
negotiations. Western diplomats said it was unclear if Moscow and
Beijing — two of the five veto-wielding powers on the 15-member
council — would support or block the resolution.
Russia, supported by China, has shielded Syria on the U.N. Security
Council during the three-year-long civil war. They have vetoed three
resolutions condemning Syria's government and threatening it with
possible sanctions.
"Of course the decision will be taken in Moscow," said a U.N.
diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It does remain
uncertain but, objectively, nothing in this humanitarian text should
be unacceptable for any delegation."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday Russia would
block the adoption of a resolution that allowed aid convoys to enter
Syria without the consent of the Damascus government. He also warned
earlier on Wednesday that the draft resolution should not be
"politicized."
"If nobody in the Security Council seeks to politicize this issue,
to promote one-sided approaches, I am convinced we will be able to
reach an agreement in the coming days," Lavrov told a Gulf states
meeting in Kuwait, Interfax news agency reported.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China was
actively participating in the process of producing a resolution.
"We believe that, in the current circumstances, the action by the
Security Council should be conducive to pushing for a political
solution to the Syria problem," she told reporters in Beijing.
"The relevant action should also respect the U.N.'s guiding
principles on humanitarian aid, upholding fairness and neutrality."
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FRUSTRATION
Russia initially dismissed the draft resolution as an unjust bid to
blame Damascus for the conflict and the aid crisis in Syria, where
the United Nations say 9.3 million people need help.
But Moscow then proposed a rival text and Australia, Jordan and
Luxembourg wrapped some of those suggestions into their draft. While
Russia then engaged in negotiations, Western diplomats said progress
on the text had stalled.
"We're not making progress by just meeting and meeting and meeting,
so we're going to push it to a vote," said a senior U.N. diplomat,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
Western members of the Security Council have been considering a
humanitarian resolution for almost a year. After months of talks,
the council eventually adopted a non-binding statement on October 2
urging more access to aid, but that statement only produced a little
administrative progress.
U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos last week urged the U.N. Security
Council to act to increase humanitarian access in Syria. Amos has
repeatedly expressed frustration that violence and red tape have
slowed aid deliveries to a trickle.
The United Nations has said that well over 100,000 people have been
killed in the civil war. The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights has said that more than 136,000 have been killed since a
revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, and Sui-Lee Wee in
Beijing; editing by Mark Heinrich, Jonathan Oatis, Paul Tait and Ron
Popeski)
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