Privately, UN talks begin on Syria chemical arms

Tense negotiations have begun on a proposed UN resolution that would put Syria's chemical weapons under international control and end a diplomatic stalemate over a deadly suspected poison gas attack, a French official said today.
The plan for Syria to relinquish its chemical weapons, initiated by Russia, appeared to ease the crisis over looming Western strikes against President Bashar Assad's regime in Damascus, only to open up new potential for impasse as Moscow rejected US and French demands for a binding UN resolution with "very severe consequences" for non-compliance.
In Damascus, a senior government official said the Russian proposal is still a "broad headline" that needs to be developed. He added that Syria was ready to sign the chemical weapons convention but not if such a move is imposed by foreign powers.

Cabinet Minister Ali Haidar told The Associated Press that Syria's chemical weapons, which he described as "the nuclear of the poor," were meant to achieve strategic balance against Israel, "an enemy that we've been fighting for more than 60 years."
Now, he said, "a new kind of strategic balance" is in place that allows Syria to relinquish its stockpile as part of an overall plan and "not out of fear of any enemy." He declined to elaborate.
Asked about the difficulties of implementing the transfer and relinquishment of Syria's chemical weapons to the backdrop of a raging civil war in the country, he replied: "There was no talk about moving and transferring control. There was talk about putting these weapons under international supervision."

The French official close to the president, who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations remained sensitive, said Russia objected not only to making the resolution militarily enforceable, but also to blaming the alleged August 21 chemical attack on the Syrian government and demanding that those responsible be taken before an international criminal court.

Wary of falling into what the French foreign minister called "a trap," Paris and Washington are pushing for a UN Security Council resolution to verify Syria's disarmament. Russia, a close ally of Syrian leader Bashar Assad and the regime's chief patron on the international stage, dismissed France's proposal yesterday.

Alexandre Orlov, Russia's ambassador to France, did not answer directly when asked today about specific Russian objections.
"We think that the proposal came together quickly, in haste," Orlov told France Inter radio. "It's sure there are chemical weapons on both sides. The important thing is to forbid them, put them under international control. Then we will see who uses them.