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Monitoring mission in Syria may remove need for UN measures - Lavrov

RIA Novosti

14:54 28/12/2011

MOSCOW, December 28 (RIA Novosti) - If the League of Arab Nations monitoring mission relaxes tensions in Syria and gives an impetus to a multi-party dialogue there will be no need for UN Security Council measures, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

“If the League of Arab States mission relaxes the situation [in Syria] and helps create conditions for an inclusive dialogue, involving all Syrian political, ethnic and confessional forces, the door for settlement will open …and we will be glad if this removes the necessity of UN Security Council resolutions,” Lavrov said.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad signed a deal on Monday allowing an Arab League observer mission into the country. The Arab peace initiative aims to end the eight months of violent unrest in the country.

Under the deal, Syria is to withdraw troops from insurgent towns, free thousands of political prisoners, open dialogue with the opposition and allow observers into the country.

Press reports said earlier the Arab League intended to field several hundred monitors. But the initial force, which arrived in the country late Monday and went to the protest flash-point of Homs on Tuesday, numbers only about 50, with another 100 to be deployed soon.

Human rights groups and policy analysts accuse the Arab League of yielding to Syrian pressure to reduce the number of observers.

“Some capitals’ calls on the Syrian opposition and the public opinion not to take seriously Syria’s agreement to deploy the League of Arab States mission make as anxious,” Lavrov minister went on.

“These calls are extremely destructive and provocative. We hope that responsible representatives of the opposition will not listen to them, but will support the mission,” he added.

Lavrov called on the Syrian leadership to help the monitoring mission and allow it “to visit any parts of the country and any residential areas in order to forge its own independent opinion about the situation.”

“It’s very important because the information coverage of what’s going on in the country is pretty one-sided.”

The UN says President Bashar Assad's crackdown on the protests, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world this year, has killed more than 5,000 people. Authorities blame armed gangs for the violence and say 1,100 soldiers and police have been killed.

The Arab League suspended Syria and imposed economic sanctions, joining the United States, the European Union and neighboring Turkey who have also imposed sanctions.

Russia on December 16 presented a surprising draft resolution at the United Nations which stepped up its criticism of the bloodshed in Syria. The draft demands that “all parties in Syria immediately stop any violence irrespective of where it comes from,” but does not call for sanctions.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the proposal presented a “seeming parity between the government and peaceful protesters,” but that the United States was going to “study the draft carefully.”