|
| U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Saturday Sept. 14, 2013. U.S. Secretary of State Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said Saturday they have reached an agreement on a framework for Syria to destroy all of its chemical weapons, and would seek a U.N. Security Council resolution that could authorize sanctions, short of military action, if Syrian President Bashar Assad's government fails to comply. |
GENEVA (AP)
-- A diplomatic breakthrough Saturday on securing and destroying Syria's
chemical weapons stockpile averted the threat of U.S. military action
for the moment and could swing momentum toward ending a horrific civil
war.
Marathon negotiations between U.S. and
Russian diplomats at a Geneva hotel produced a sweeping agreement that
will require one of the most ambitious arms-control efforts in history.
The
deal involves making an inventory and seizing all components of Syria's
chemical weapons program and imposing penalties if President Bashar
Assad's government fails to comply will the terms.
After
days of intense day-and-night negotiations between U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and their
teams, the two powers announced they had a framework for ridding the
world of Syria's chemicals weapons.
The U.S.
says Assad used them in an Aug. 21 attack on the outskirts of Damascus,
the capital, killing more than 1,400 civilians. That prompted President
Barack Obama to ready American airstrikes on his order - until he
decided last weekend to ask for authorization from the U.S. Congress.
Then came the Russian proposal, and Obama asked Congress, already
largely opposed to military intervention, to delay a vote.
Kerry
and Lavrov said they agreed on the size of the chemical weapons
inventory, and on a speedy timetable and measures for Assad to do away
with the toxic agents.
But Syria, a Moscow
ally, kept silent on the development, while Obama made clear that "if
diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act."
The
deal offers the potential for reviving international peace talks to end
a civil war that has claimed more than 100,000 lives and sent 2 million
refugees fleeing for safety, and now threatens the stability of the
entire Mideast.
Kerry and Lavrov, along with
the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the chances
for a follow-up peace conference in Geneva to the one held in June 2012
would depend largely on the weapons deal.
The
U.S. and Russia are giving Syria just one week, until Sept. 21, to
submit "a comprehensive listing, including names, types and quantities
of its chemical weapons agents, types of munitions, and location and
form of storage, production, and research and development facilities."
International
inspectors are to be on the ground in Syria by November. During that
month, they are to complete their initial assessment and all mixing and
filling equipment for chemical weapons is to be destroyed. They must be
given "immediate and unfettered" access to inspect all sites.
All components of the chemical weapons program are to be removed from the country or destroyed by mid-2014.
"Ensuring
that a dictator's wanton use of chemical weapons never again comes to
pass, we believe is worth pursuing and achieving," Kerry said.
For
the moment, the deal may not do much to change the fighting on the
ground. But the impasse in the international community over how to react
could ease somewhat with the U.S. and Russia also agreeing to
immediately press for a U.N. Security Council resolution that enshrines
the weapons deal.
They will seek a resolution
under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which can authorize both the use of
force and nonmilitary measures.
But Russia,
which already has rejected three resolutions on Syria, would be sure to
veto a U.N. move toward military action, and U.S. officials said they
did not contemplate seeking such an authorization.
"The
world will now expect the Assad regime to live up to its public
commitments," Kerry told a news conference at the hotel where
round-the-clock negotiations were conducted since Thursday night. "There
can be no games, no room for avoidance or anything less than full
compliance by the Assad regime."
Kerry and
Lavrov emphasized that the deal sends a strong message not just to Syria
but to the world, too, that the use of chemical weapons will not be
tolerated.
Lavrov added, cautiously, "We understand that the decisions we have reached today are only the beginning of the road."
In
an interview with Russian state television, Lavrov said the groundwork
for such an approach to Syria's chemical weapons stockpile began in June
2012 when Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the
sidelines of the G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.
"Both
sides expressed serious concern that it could not be ruled out that the
chemical weapons which Syria possessed according to American and our
information could fall into the wrong hands," Lavrov said. The
presidents agreed to share information on a regular basis about Syria's
arsenal, he said.
Lavrov said both Russian and U.S. officials went on to contact Syrian leaders to determine the safety of weapons storage.
U.S.
officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to publicly discuss details of the negotiations, said the
U.S. and Russia agreed that Syria had roughly 1,000 metric tons of
chemical weapons agents and precursors, including blister agents, such
as sulfur and mustard gas and nerve agents like sarin.
These officials said the two sides did not agree on the number of chemical weapons sites in Syria.
U.S.
intelligence believes Syria has about 45 sites associated with
chemicals weapons, half of which have "exploitable quantities" of
material that could be used in munitions. The Russian estimate is
considerably lower; the officials would not say by how much.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe all the stocks remain in government control, the officials said.
Noncompliance
by the Assad government or any other party would be referred to the
15-nation Security Council by the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons. That group oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention,
which Syria this past week agreed to join. The U.N. received Syria's
formal notification Saturday and it would be effect Oct. 14.
The
weapons group's director-general, Ahmet Uzumcu, spoke of adopting
"necessary measures" to put in place "an accelerated program to verify
the complete destruction" of Syria's chemical weapons, production
facilities and "other relevant capabilities."
The
U.S. and Russia are two of the five permanent Security Council members
with a veto. The others are Britain, China, and France.
"There
is an agreement between Russia and the United States that
non-compliance is going to be held accountable within the Security
Council under Chapter 7," Kerry said. "What remedy is chosen is subject
to the debate within the council, which is always true. But there's a
commitment to impose measures."
Lavrov indicated there would be limits to using such a resolution.
"Any
violations of procedures ... would be looked at by the Security Council
and if they are approved, the Security Council would take the required
measures, concrete measures," Lavrov said. "Nothing is said about the
use of force or about any automatic sanctions."
Kerry
spoke of a commitment, in the event of Syrian noncompliance, to "impose
measures commensurate with whatever is needed in terms of the
accountability."
The agreement offers no
specific penalties. Given that a thorough investigation of any
allegation of noncompliance is required before any possible action,
Moscow could drag out the process or veto measures it deems too harsh.
Kerry
stressed that the U.S. believes the threat of force is necessary to
back the diplomacy, and U.S. officials have Obama retains the right to
launch military strikes without U.N. approval to protect American
national security interests.
"I have no doubt
that the combination of the threat of force and the willingness to
pursue diplomacy helped to bring us to this moment," Kerry said.
But
a leading U.S. senator expressed concerns that without the threat of
force, it's not clear "how Syrian compliance will be possible under the
terms of any agreement."
Republican lawmaker
Bob Corker of Tennessee said Syria's "willingness to follow through is
very much an open question" and he did not want the negotiations to
signal a "retreat from our broader national interests," including
support for "moderate" opposition forces in Syria.
U.N.
inspectors were preparing to submit their own report. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said Friday that he expected "an overwhelming report" that
chemical weapons were indeed used on the outskirts of Damascus on Aug.
21.
A U.N. statement said Ban hoped the
agreement will prevent further use of such weapons and "help pave the
path for a political solution to stop the appalling suffering inflicted
on the Syrian people."
Britain's foreign
secretary, William Hague, said Saturday's development was "a significant
step forward." Germany believes that "if deeds now follow the words,
the chances of a political solution will rise significantly," Foreign
Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
The commander
of the Free Syrian Army rebel group, Gen. Salim Idris, said in Turkey
that the Russian initiative would "buy time" and that rebels will
continue "fighting the regime and work for bringing it down."
He
said that if international inspectors come to Syria in order to inspect
chemical weapons, "we will facilitate their passages but there will be
no cease-fire." The FSA will not block the work of U.N. inspectors, he
said, and the "inspectors will not be subjected to rebel fire when they
are in regime-controlled areas."
Idris said Kerry told him by telephone that "the alternative of military strikes is still on the table."
