Emmanuel Thomas l Tuesday, April 11, 2017
WASHINGTON, United States – The United States of America has said that many nations, including the U.S look forward to resolve the Syrian conflict in a way that will entrench political stability for the Syrians without President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.
Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, who made the observation in a media chat also attacked President Vladimir Putin of Russia for failing to enforce UN accord with Assad as the guarantor of a Syria free of chemical weapons, that they would also locate, secure, and destroy all such armaments in Syria.
He describe recent used of chemical weapons by the Syrian government as an indication of incompetence on the part of Russia to enforce the resolution and called on her to shift alliance.
“Many nations look to the Geneva process to resolve the Syrian conflict in a way that produces stability and gives Syria and the Syrian people the opportunity to determine their own political future. And our hope is Bashar al-Assad will not be a part of that future. If the Astana ceasefire negotiations become effective towards achieving a durable ceasefire, then the Geneva process has the opportunity to accelerate. To date, Astana has not produced much progress.
“It is also clear Russia has failed to uphold the agreements that had been entered into under multiple UN Security Council resolutions. These agreements stipulated Russia as the guarantor of a Syria free of chemical weapons, that they would also locate, secure, and destroy all such armaments in Syria”,he said, adding in terms of the future of Bashar al-Assad, it is important to us that we undertake a political process that leads to the final conclusion of how Syria will be governed.
“It is our policy for a unified Syria that is governed by the people of Syria. I think it is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end; but the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important, in our view, to the durability, the stability inside of a unified Syria, and its stability and durability of the outcome going forward.
“So that’s why we are not presupposing how that occurs, but I think it is clear that we see no further role for the Assad regime longer-term given that they have effectively given up their legitimacy with these type of attacks”, he said.
Turning to Russia, he said stockpiles and continued use demonstrate that Russia has failed in its responsibility to deliver on this 2013 commitment.
“It is unclear whether Russia failed to take this obligation seriously or Russia has been incompetent, but this distinction doesn’t much matter to the dead. We can’t let this happen again”, he said.
He said the U.S cannot accept the normalization of the use of chemical weapons by other actors or countries, in Syria or elsewhere.
” The U.S. is grateful for the statements of all of our partners who have expressed support for our timely and proportional response. As events shift, the United States will continue to evaluate its strategic options and opportunities to de-escalate violence across Syria”, he said.
