AL ARABIYA, 21 April 2012 –The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a vote on a draft resolution on Saturday to authorize the deployment to Syria of up to 300 unarmed military observers, despite U.S. and European concerns that Damascus has yet to fully implement a ceasefire.
The United Nations announced on Friday the 15-nation council planned to hold the vote at 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT). It will be considering a compromise resolution that combines Russian and European drafts.
Council envoys reached a preliminary agreement on a draft resolution on the Syrian conflict, a crisis that has left the council divided since it erupted 13 months ago. But there was a possibility the deal could fall through since council members must seek final approval from their capitals overnight.
“It’s possible not everybody will have instructions at that point (11:00 a.m.),” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, president of the Security Council this month, told reporters. “It’s possible there will not be an agreed text at that point, we’ll see, and we’ll regroup accordingly.”
Britain, France and Russia would also like a deal.
“I hope there’s going to be a unanimous vote tomorrow,” said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin. “The Syrian government and the opposition must know that the Security Council will be authorizing the full-fledged mandate so we hope it’s going to send a strong and good political signal.”
The United States and European countries have insisted that Syria must accept the use of U.N. planes and helicopters by the U.N. mission, which will be called U.N. Supervisions Mission in Syria (UNSMIS).
France, Britain and Germany have proposed sending 300 observers along with civilian personnel including political, human rights, public security and gender experts.
The Russian text also proposes 300 observers but would only allow a “limited” number of civilian experts which would have to be agreed by the Syrian government.
Syria and the United Nations this week agreed a protocol to allow the advanced party to operate across Syria but President Bashar al-Assad’s government has not agreed to let the observers use their own helicopters.
The European text would put added pressure on Damascus by stressing “the need for the Syrian government to agree rapidly” on the “independent” use of aircraft by the proposed UNSMIS.
On Friday, thousands of Syrians took part in protests against Assad’s regime, testing the shaky U.N. ceasefire, as state media said 18 security personnel were killed in attacks. At least 23 people were killed on Friday in Syria, 10 of them by the roadside bomb targeting security forces and most of the others in shelling by president Assad’s forces on the city of Homs, further undermining the truce.
The U.N. says that well over 9,000 people have been killed in the uprising against Assad which started in March last year.