Russia on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have
extended cross-border aid to Syria by one year without Damascus’s
backing.
Western powers then voted down a competing resolution put forward by
Moscow that proposed extending approval by just six months.
The authorization for the aid deliveries across the Syrian-Turkish border
at Bab al-Hawa, which has been in effect since 2014, is set to expire
Sunday.
The aid is a lifeline for more than 2.4 million people in the northwestern
Idlib region of Syria, under the control of jihadists and rebels.
Thirteen of the fifteen Council members voted in favor of the text proposed
by Norway and Ireland. China, which often votes the same way as Russia,
chose to abstain.
The vote had been due to be held Thursday but was scrapped following
disagreement between Russia and the West.
The Norway-Ireland text would have provided for a six-month extension
until mid-January 2023, and then an additional six-month extension
“unless the Council decides otherwise.”
The extension would also be conditional on a “substantive report” by the
secretary-general, including on the operation’s transparency, progress on
channeling aid across the front line, and progress on meeting
humanitarian needs.
That text was already “an extreme compromise,” said America’s
ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, accusing Russia of
putting its “own political interests above the humanitarian needs of the
Syrian people.”
“Tragically people will die because of this vote,” she told the chamber.
British ambassador Barbara Woodward said Moscow had deployed a
“deeply irresponsible veto that will have a tragic impact.”
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the world body, Dmitry Polyanskiy,
meanwhile accused the west of “stubbornness” and said the resolution
“ignored the sovereignty of Damascus.”
‘Last lifeline’
The United States, France and Britain voted against Russia’s draft text,
while the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council abstained.
Moscow secured Beijing’s vote.
Western nations had deemed the text unacceptable, as there is no
guarantee of an extension at the start of the new year.
For resolutions to be adopted, at least nine of the 15 members must
support it with none of the permanent members wielding their veto.
Sunday’s deadline still leaves time for members of the Security Council to
find common ground, observers note.
Diplomats said the council’s non-permanent members may propose a
nine-month extension to try to break the impasse.
Nearly 10,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid passed through Bab
al-Hawa last year, bound for Idlib.
It is the only crossing through which aid can be brought into Idlib without
navigating areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
Moscow, an ally of Damascus, has curtailed a number of Western-backed
measures in recent years, using its veto 17 times in relation to Syria since
the war’s outbreak in 2011.
Russia views the authorization as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty, and
believes the delivery of aid to the northwest region should only be carried
out from Damascus across the front line.
Russia had hinted in recent months that it would oppose an extension,
having already forced a reduction in the number of allowed border
crossings.
Dozens of NGOs and several senior UN officials had lobbied Security
Council members for the year-long cross-border aid clearance.
Amnesty International warned of dire consequences from Moscow’s veto.
“The Russian veto will effectively close the last lifeline for at least four
million people in northwest Syria who depend on UN aid for survival,” the
rights group’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard, said in a statement.
“This will only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis but will also lead to a
humanitarian catastrophe.” – AFP