Syria Gains Seat on U.N. Security Council

Syria Gains Seat on U.N. Security Council

NewsMax.com Wires
Monday, October 08, 2001

UNITED NATIONS -- Syria, one of seven countries Washington designates as a state sponsor of terrorism, was elected Monday as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

In a vote in the General Assembly, Syria received 160 votes from the 178 nations voting.

Damascus has enjoyed unanimous support from the Asia group within the United Nations for nearly a year and was that regional group's choice.

According to the U.N. charter, the General Assembly elects the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms. The 15-member council has the primary responsibility of maintaining international peace and security, and its decisions are mandatory for the 189 member states of the United Nations.

Each member of the council has one vote. Decisions on substantive matters require nine votes, including the concurring votes of the permanent members. The five permanent members of the council - China, France, the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation and the United States - hold veto power.

In Washington, reaction to the Syrian win was muted.

"Syria was elected as the uncontested candidate of the Asia regional group for the seat apportioned to that group for 2002-2003," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement Monday.

But Boucher refused to say whether the United States was one of the 18 countries that did not throw its support behind Damascus in the U.N. vote, noting, "As is our longstanding practice and policy, we do not disclose how we voted in any of the elections."

On Sept. 12, Syrian President Bashar Assad offered to help forge a global anti-terrorism coalition in a letter of condolences to President George W. Bush over the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. The United States has been working to gather support in the Arab world for a coalition against the Taliban. Syria in the Gulf War backed the U.S.-led coalition against Saddam Hussein.

On Monday, however, Boucher said, "The United States will continue to express our concerns regarding terrorism with the Syrian government."

The latest U.S. report on patterns of global terrorism said Syria has provided safe haven for a number of terror groups and in some cases allowed them to establish "terrorist training camps and other facilities."

Among the groups operating freely in Syria are Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command; the Palestine Islamic Jihad, Abu Musa's Fatah-the-Intifada; and George Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. All four groups maintained headquarters in Damascus.

In addition, Syria provides safe haven for militant organizations inside the Bekaa Valley - an area inside Lebanon controlled by the Syrian military. Hezbollah, the South Lebanese Palestinian group believed responsible for the 1992 attack in Buenos Aires on the Israeli Embassy and a 1994 strike on a Jewish cultural center in the Argentine capital, operates freely in the valley as well Hamas, one of the largest militant Palestinian Islamic organizations operating inside of the Palestinian-controlled territories.

State Department sources told United Press International that since Sept. 11, U.S. diplomats have asked the government in Damascus to rein in Hezbollah in particular.

Syria is also potentially in violation of the 1982 U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 520 - which Israel also ignored for nearly 10 years - calling on all foreign forces to leave Lebanon. The Syrians have said in the past that their army has been asked by Lebanon to stay in the country to keep a tenuous peace between the Christian and Muslim factions in the country.

The General Assembly on Monday also elected other member countries to the council.

U.N. officials indicated that Cameroon, which will replace Mali as representing Africa, was elected by 173 votes, while Bulgaria, which will be replacing Ukraine, was chosen by 120 votes.

For the non-permanent seat assigned to Latin America, Mexico was elected with 138 votes after a run-off with the Dominican Republic, which ended up with only 40 votes, officials said.

In the first round of voting for that post, Mexico had obtained 116 votes and the Dominicans 60. Mexico will replace Jamaica until 2003.

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