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UN Security Council to vote on Syria draft resolution on Saturday morning

21 April 2012 04:46 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Saturday morning to vote on a draft resolution that would expand the number of UN ceasefire observers in Syria to 300, diplomats said here Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

After meeting behind closed doors for more than three hours late Friday, the 15-nation council reached a tentative agreement on a draft resolution, which merged two rival drafts circulated by Russia and the European Council members, the diplomats said.

The text of the draft resolutions will be sent to capitals overnight and the council would meet at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday for a vote, the diplomats said.

The draft resolution came in response to a recommendation by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to expand the UN observation mission in Syria, which has been plunged into a political crisis since March 2011.

On Thursday, the UN secretary-general said that the situation in Syria "remains highly precarious," and he looked forward to an early action by the UN Security Council on his proposed expansion of the UN ceasefire observation mission in the Middle East country.

"On Syria, the situation remains highly precarious," Ban said when addressing reporters outside the UN Security Council Chambers after he sent a letter to the 15-nation UN body to call for more observers into Syria to monitor the week-old ceasefire in Syria.