UN:Assad is asked to transfer powers to deputy

UN draft resolution asks Assad to transfer powers to deputy

  The political unrest in Syria, a fresh draft resolution has been circulated in the UNSC, calling for an immediate end to the govt crackdown on civilians as it asked Prez Bashar al-Assad to transfer his powers to his deputy.

The draft introduced on Friday offers that if Syria does not comply with the provisions of the resolution within 15 days, the UN Security Council can "adopt further measures, in consultation with the League of Arab States," against the Syrian regime.

The draft also "fully supports" League of Arab States' initiative to facilitate a political transition leading to a democratic, plural political system, which will see President Bashar Al Assad delegating his "full authority to his Deputy to fully cooperate with the national unity government in order to empower it to perform its duties in the transitional period."

The 15-member UNSC has however remained deeply divided over the action that should be taken against the Syrian regime, even as more than 5000 people have been killed in the uprising that began almost a year ago. According to UNICEF, 384 children have been killed during the fighting.

Germany's UN ambassador Peter Wittig said the situation in Syria "just needed action."

"I appealed to the members of the Council that we should recover the unity of the Council and not fall back into acrimonious discussions of the past, climb out of our trenches and reunite, because we owe it to the Syrian people to send out rather sooner than later a strong endorsement of the Arab League decisions," he said on Friday.

Wittig said consultations on the draft resolution will begin next week, and "I think it is possible that we find an agreement." Witting said the new draft does not mention putting an arms embrago against Syria.

The French Permanent Representative to the United Nations Grard Araud said the new text reflects the postion of the Arab League on the release of political prisoners, access of media and on withdrawal of armed forces from the centres of the cities.

Russia had previously circulated a draft on Syria, in which the Council members had sought several changes.

However Russia did not return to the Council with a new text. Araud said some members have raised objections over sanctions being imposed on Syria. Russia in particular does not want sanctions imposed on Syria.

The French ambassador said the issue of sanctions will be discussed during the "very determined negotiating process" which will begin next week.

"I'm sure that this is one of the questions which will be raised. It can be interpreted as sanctions; several countries have expressed their reluctance of accepting sanctions or even the prospect of sanctions. It will be one of the three or four political issues that we have to handle. Negotiating is precisely about trying to find a way to solve these issues," he said.

Araud added that he hoped a resolution will be agreed upon "by the end of next week."

Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin said the draft, circulated by Morocco, ignores the "red lines".

"Unfortunately, the draft that we saw today not only ignored our red lines, but also added some new elements that we find unacceptable as a matter of principle. The Security Council cannot go about imposing political solutions in crisis situations in various countries of the world."

He said while the Russian delegation does not see the draft as a "basis on which we can agree...that does not mean we refuse to engage with the co-sponsors of that resolution. We will continue to engage."