UNSC approves Ban's proposal to set up OPCW-UN Syria mission

The UN Security Council late Thursday approved Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal to establish a joint mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations to eliminate the Syrian chemical weapons programme as soon as possible and in the safest and most secure manner. The Council's approval will be contained in a "short letter" to be drafted by the Council President Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters following the Council's closed-door meeting to discuss how to respond to Ban's proposal. The draft letter will be distributed among the Council's 15 members for approval, he added. Ban's proposal was contained in a letter he addressed to the Council last Monday, in implementation of Council resolution 2118 of last September 27, which requested him to submit to its members "recommendations regarding the role of the United Nations in eliminating" Syria's chemical weapons programme. Ban proposed that the joint Mission, to be headed by a civilian Special Coordinator, will build upon the deployment of the advance team currently in Syria and will expand to a staff of approximately 100 personnel. He also noted that, given the operating environment, the joint Mission will establish a "light footprint" in Syria, only deploying on the ground those personnel whose presence is necessary in the country to perform their tasks. Asked if the Council's Permanent members - US, UK, France, Russia and China - will be banned from the joint Mission, Churkin told KUNA "no restrictions. In fact we believe it will be important for the P5 to participate this time. There are already some Russian experts on the ground, and more will be coming." The P5 were banned from participating in a previous team of experts, led by Ake Selstrom, who investigated the use of chemical weapons on August 21st near Damascus. They informed the Council last month that the banned weapons were indeed used on a rather large scale. Their final report will be issued later this month. On whether the joint Mission will need a ceasefire to do its job, Churkin said "of course it will be very helpful, but it is not necessary. In the absence of a ceasefire we have to do what needs to be done anyway, it is possible to be done. The ceasefire is a different proposition." In a related matter and taking advantage of the Council's deliberations on the subject today, the Syrian Coalition sent a letter to all UN members urging them to build on the momentum provided by the adoption of resolution 2118 to disarm Syria's chemical weapons programme and to intensify their efforts to stop the conflict in Syria. The Syrian opposition group also called on the international community to increase the pressure to make the regime accept the need for and agree to a political transition, if a political solution to the conflict is to be reached and the growing threat of extremism to be neutralized