By Louis
Charbonneau
Western nations circulated a draft U.N. resolution on
Tuesday that calls for sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,
influential members of his family and key associates.
U.S. and European delegations hope to put the draft
resolution to a vote in the 15-nation Security Council as soon as possible. The
sanctions are the Western nations’ response to Damascus’ five-month crackdown
on pro-democracy demonstrators, which the United Nations says has left 2,200
civilians dead.
But Russia, which has veto-power, said it does not think
sanctioning Damascus is the right approach at the moment.
The resolution, drafted by Britain, France, Germany, Portugal
and the United States and obtained by Reuters, says the council “strongly
condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the
Syrian authorities” and “demands an immediate end to the violence.”
While it would call for freezing Assad’s financial assets, as
it does for 22 other Syrians, it excludes him from the list of Syrians facing
an international travel ban. The draft also lists Assad’s passport number as
D19093.
Others targeted for sanctions include Assad’s brother Maher,
commander of the army’s 4th armored division, which is said to have played a
key role in suppressing protests, Vice President Farouq al-Shara, and Assad’s
cousin Rami Makhlouf, a tycoon who controls Syria’s biggest cellphone firm
Syriatel.
Among the other individuals on the sanctions list are the
defense minister and several senior intelligence officials.
The resolution would impose sanctions on Syria’s General
Intelligence Directorate and three companies that it says provide funding for
the government. One of the firms, the Military Housing Establishment, is partly
controlled by the Syrian defense ministry, the resolution says.
For the full article, click here. For a
pdf file of the draft resolution, click here: Draft SCR on Syria.
Source : Reuters
EmpireMoney
No comments:
Post a Comment