This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/14/world/middleeast/Brahimi-Syria-civil-war.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Top U.N. Mediator in Syria Conflict Resigns U.N. Mediator on Syria Quits; French Envoy Says Chemicals Were Used
(about 9 hours later)
UNITED NATIONS — Lakhdar Brahimi, the veteran United Nations mediator tapped to help broker a political settlement in Syria, resigned on Tuesday, signaling the bleak prospects for peace in a conflict that has gone on for more than three years and claimed more than 150,000 lives. UNITED NATIONS — International efforts to end the war in Syria faltered further on Tuesday as the United Nations mediator quit, citing frustrations over the moribund political negotiations, and France’s top diplomat said there was evidence the Syrian government used chemical weapons more than a dozen times after it had signed the treaty banning them.
“I have decided to accept the request of Lakhdar Brahimi to relinquish his duties,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters at a news briefing at the United Nations, with Mr. Brahimi standing beside him. Mr. Ban said the resignation was effective at the end of May. Taken together, the two events pointed to the failings of the West’s signature efforts on Syria, finding a diplomatic way out of a civil war in its fourth year — and a pact that was proudly touted as stopping the Syrian government from using chemical weapons.
“Mr. Brahimi has long been recognized as one of the world’s most brilliant diplomats,” Mr. Ban said, describing the resignation as a collective failure. Mr. Brahimi thanked Mr. Ban and told reporters that the resignation “was not a very pleasant situation for me.” The United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, announced that he had accepted the resignation of his special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, who told reporters, “It’s very sad that I leave this position and leave Syria behind in such a bad state.”
His resignation came amid rising frustration with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who ignored Mr. Brahimi’s proposed agenda for talks and then scheduled a presidential election that will probably install him for another seven-year term. Top United Nations officials had expressed dismay at the move, saying the election would probably sabotage any further diplomacy. His departure — without even a hint of who might succeed him — signaled the bleak prospects for peace in a conflict that has claimed more than 150,000 lives and shows no signs of abating, as President Bashar al-Assad says he intends to serve another seven-year term after staging elections in June. Mr. Brahimi’s announcement came just two days before Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from European and Arab nations are to gather in London to discuss the crisis in Syria, with no new or obvious path forward.
Mr. Brahimi told the Security Council in mid-March that he saw no reason for staying on if Mr. Assad went ahead with a vote. Mr. Assad responded by setting a date in early June. Asked for his message to the Syrian people, Mr. Brahimi said later in the day: “Apologies once more.”
Mr. Brahimi led the government and opposition representatives in two rounds of talks in Switzerland. The last ended without agreement even on an agenda for talks. Elections would defy one of the central premises for the negotiations: to discuss how to form an interim transitional government. But there were also signs of disarray within the Western coalition on Tuesday, as France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, expressed regret that the Obama administration had decided against using force after an Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in the Damascus area that Western nations, led by the United States, blamed on forces loyal to President Assad.
There is no word on who might succeed Mr. Brahimi, nor how a successor might proceed. Though an American military strike was called off when Syria agreed to give up its chemical weapons, Mr. Fabius said there were “indications” that Syria had since waged 14 chemical attacks.
Several diplomats have said a breakthrough on Syria will come only if Iran, the Assad government’s most important backer in the Middle East, can be persuaded to cooperate on a political settlement. “Right now, we are examining the samples that were taken,” he told reporters.
Mr. Ban was unusually forthright in his remarks on Tuesday, singling out what he described as the Syrian government’s intransigence in political negotiations. He also chided members of the Security Council for their inability to coax allies on the ground in the conflict, saying that was a major reason for Mr. Brahimi’s departure. France, Mr. Fabius indicated, had been prepared to use force last year as part of an American-led coalition, but had not wanted to act alone. Had such a military strike been carried out, Mr. Fabius said, “we feel that it would have changed many things.”
“That his efforts have not received support from the United Nations body that is charged with upholding peace and security and from countries with influence over Syrian situation is a failure of all of us,” Mr. Ban said. While France had previously indicated its chagrin over the Obama administration’s military pullback on Syria, it was unusual for France’s top diplomat to speak so frankly about it — in Washington no less, following a meeting with his American counterpart, Mr. Kerry.
Mr. Brahimi, 80, a veteran Algerian statesman who helped negotiate an end to Lebanon’s civil war nearly a quarter-century ago, spoke ever so briefly and softly when it was his turn, shoulders slouched, lips downturned. Mr. Fabius’s assertions of chemical weapons use, most of them involving chlorine bombs, came as other signs pointed to Syrian government culpability. Human Rights Watch, in a report on Tuesday, said it had evidence that Mr. Assad’s forces had dropped chlorine-filled bombs from helicopters on three towns in northern Syria in April. The chemical weapons treaty that Syria signed last year prohibits using chlorine as a weapon, even though chlorine itself isn’t banned.
“It’s very sad that I leave this position and leave Syria behind in such a bad state,” he said. The State Department had no comment on Mr. Fabius’s assertions of chemical attacks, saying the matter was being investigated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly I. Churkin, likewise urged patience until the investigation was finished.
Mr. Ban said nothing about Mr. Brahimi’s successor, underscoring the difficulties of choosing the next mediator. “Let me take some time to think who should be the right person,” he told reporters. Western officials have said in recent weeks that they were aware of reports that the use of chlorine might have occurred more than a dozen times.
He chided all antagonists in the conflict and their supporters abroad for wasting Mr. Brahimi’s time. The State Department on Tuesday defended President Obama’s decision to refrain from using force, saying that it led to an agreement that has eliminated 92 percent of Syria’s precursor chemicals, which are used to make poison gas, and noting that it was pushing Syria to give up the rest.
“I regret the parties, especially the government, have proven so reluctant to take advantage of that opportunity to end the country’s profound misery,” Mr. Ban said. Since the Syrian conflict began, the Obama administration has repeatedly said that it was trying to bring about a political solution in which Mr. Assad would agree to yield power and a transitional government would be formed. Critics have asserted that the talks were unlikely to work unless Mr. Assad was first weakened militarily, giving his political opponents more leverage.
He added: “Because of the divided world here and there, within the United Nations and in the region, we have not been able to make any progress in three years.” Ahmad Jarba, the head of the moderate Syrian opposition, who met with President Obama on Tuesday, has been urging the Americans to arm select rebel groups with surface-to-air missiles. The White House has long been reluctant to take such a step, fearing that they would fall into the wrong hands.
Diplomats have said privately that Mr. Ban is weighing whether a more low-key figure would be more useful to at least keep a moribund political channel open, or whether to seek another similarly senior diplomat. There are few left of Mr. Brahimi’s stature. His predecessor as special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, the former secretary-general, quit after a barely a year. Mr. Brahimi, 80, a veteran Algerian statesman who helped negotiate an end to Lebanon’s civil war nearly a quarter-century ago, spoke to a closed-door session of the Security Council after his resignation announcement. He pointedly told its members that they needed to take steps to stop the flow of arms to both sides in the war and to address the dire humanitarian crisis, according to diplomats inside.
Mr. Ban also used the occasion to reiterate his demands for accountability for crimes against humanity in the Syria conflict, pointing to the blocking of humanitarian assistance, which he called “deliberate starvation.” This too was a reference to the government’s culpability, with the United Nations having described in detail how government forces are far more responsible than rebel forces for blocking aid to besieged communities. Western countries have faced off against Russia repeatedly in the Council; the impasse has meant that the Council has been unable even to ensure that United Nations agencies can ferry food and medicine into the country.
Mr. Brahimi led government and opposition representatives in two rounds of talks in Switzerland. The last ended without agreement even on an agenda for talks. Elections would defy one of the central premises for the negotiations: to discuss how to form an interim transitional government.
Mr. Brahimi also told the Security Council on Tuesday that Iran, the Assad government’s staunch regional ally, had offered to help postpone elections in Syria. “It is too late in the day for that,” he told the Council, according to his prepared remarks, adding that Tehran’s other ideas could still be considered. They included a cease-fire, a new national unity government, and a review of the constitution to reduce the powers of the president.
Mr. Ban was unusually forthright in his remarks on Tuesday, singling out what he described as the Syrian government’s intransigence in political negotiations. He also chided members of the Security Council for their inability to coax allies on the ground in the conflict, suggesting that it was a major reason for Mr. Brahimi’s departure.
“That his efforts have not received support from the United Nations body that is charged with upholding peace and security and from countries with influence over the Syrian situation is a failure of all of us,” Mr. Ban said.
Meanwhile, Russia announced that it had circulated a draft Security Council resolution that would seek to replicate local cease-fires, as the warring parties had negotiated in the devastated city of Homs, so humanitarian aid can be delivered. Russia’s Western rivals are discussing two separate measures. One would enforce a humanitarian aid resolution that the Council has already passed and that the warring parties, particularly the government, has repeatedly flouted. The second would refer the war in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Mr. Churkin said he would reject such a referral.