Antiwar.com,
Less than 72 hours before it completes its two-year term in the 15-member U.N. Security Council, Syria formally introduced a resolution Monday calling for a nuclear weapons-free zone in the politically volatile Middle East.
The resolution, which was apparently prompted by Libya's decision last week to come clean on its weapons of mass destruction (WMD), is implicitly aimed at Israel, the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons.
After closed door consultations, Syrian Ambassador Fayssad Mekdad told reporters Monday he was not sure whether the draft resolution will be put to a vote before Wednesday, when Syria leaves the Security Council after its two-year stint as a non-permanent member.
“We are giving members of the Security Council time to consult with their capitals. We will have to wait and see what the next step should be,” he added.
The draft resolution calls for a Middle East free of all WMD, “in particular nuclear weapons.”
Mekdad said Syria introduced the proposal on behalf of the 22 Arab countries at the United Nations. The resolution was also endorsed by the 117 members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the 54-nation Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), he added.
If the Council fails to vote on it by Wednesday, Mekdad said, the new Arab member in the Council, Algeria, “will continue to pursue the objectives of the resolution.”
Algeria begins its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council on Jan. 1.
A diplomat of a southern nation told IPS the outcome of the resolution is “highly predictable.” “As a close ally of Israel, the United States will block any attempts to adopt the resolution
