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Voting of UN Security Council on resolution on ceasefire in Syria rescheduled for Saturday

Security Council members tried to finalize the document on Friday, but they failed to tackle all disputable issues

UN, February 24. /TASS/. The UN Security Council will vote on the draft resolution on ceasefire in Syria on Saturday noon EST (20:00 Moscow time), Security Council members told reporters on Friday after a closed meeting.

Olof Skoog, the Permanent Representative of Sweden to the United Nations, said that the voting would take place at noon on Saturday. The Security Council members tried to finalize the document on Friday, but they failed to tackle all disputable issues. They will work this night and will continue tomorrow, vote and probably adopt the resolution by consensus, he said.

Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi, the Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations who is chairing the Security Council in February, told reporters that the main discrepancies were linked to the item on the draft resolution that determines the time of enactment of the ceasefire and its duration.

The draft resolution prepared by Kuwait and Sweden contains a requirement to settle a 30-day ceasefire across Syria’s territory. According to the document, the ceasefire will not include operations against Islamic State (a terror organization, outlawed in Russia) and groups linked to it. The text of the document also contains an appeal to the warring sides to stop the blockade of communities and allow international organizations to offer humanitarian help to the population and evacuate the injured.

The voting on the draft resolution was initially set for Friday, 19:00 Moscow time and later rescheduled for 22:30. The Security Council’s closed consultations continued into Saturday, 01:00 Moscow time, but the delegation has not reached consensus yet. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said that Russia is ready to coordinate the resolution on the ceasefire in Syria if it contains guarantees that all militants, chiefly those in Eastern Ghouta, will observer the ceasefire and stop the shelling of Damascus.