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France, U.S., Britain urge "strong, robust" UN resolution on Syrian chemical weapons

(Xinhua)    20:22, September 16, 2013
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France, Britain and the United States on Monday called for a "strong and robust" UN resolution which includes an accurate schedule and "binding" conditions on Syrian handover of chemical arms.

During talks in Paris, the three western countries, which are also the permanent members on the United Nations Security Council, agreed to finalize terms of the due resolution this week in New York.

They also considered the UN investigating report on Aug. 21 chemical attack to be released later, "a good opportunity to move forward (on hammering out the resolution)," local media said citing a presidency office's statement.

"We want to see quickly concrete and real acts of the Syrian regime... The resolution will include serious consequences if it will not be respected and that perpetrators of the committed crime have to make their accounts," French Foreign Minsiter Laurent Fabius said.

During a joint press meeting with his U.S. and British counterparts, John Kerry and William Hague, Fabius announced the organization of a "major international gathering" next week in New York to seek further support to the Syrian National Coalition.

On a live TV program of TF1, French President Francois Hollande on Sunday said a UN resolution on Syrian chemical arms could be voted by the end of this week, adding that a diplomatic solution to end Syrian conflict was possible but stressed that the option of military strikes was still valid.

After three days of intense negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov reached agreement Saturday on a framework to secure and destroy Syria's chemical weapons by mid-2014 and impose UN penalties if the Bashar al-Assad government fails to respect the accord.

According to the framework, Syria must submit a "comprehensive listing" of its chemical weapons stockpiles within one week, and weapons inspectors must be on the ground in Syria by November.

Experts say removing 1,000 tons of chemical weapons, located in secret installations, would take months and even years.


(Editor:YanMeng、Gao Yinan)

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