UN moves to send observers to Aleppo, re-start peace talks

With Russia's backing, the Security Council on Monday agreed to quickly deploy UN observers to Aleppo as the United Nations announced that political talks will resume in February on ending Syria's devastating war.

The council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution that marks the first show of unity in months among world powers struggling to put an end to the five-year war that has left more than 310,000 dead.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said he planned to convene a new round of negotiations on February 8 in Geneva, saying in a statement that it was "vital to build on this initial momentum with further steps."

The announcement of a new round of talks came after the council tasked the United Nations with carrying out "adequate, neutral monitoring and direct observation on evacuations" from east Aleppo and other besieged areas.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the international presence aimed to prevent Aleppo from turning into another Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosnian men and boys were massacred in 1995 when the town fell to Serb forces.

It remained uncertain however whether the Syrian government would give the observers quick access to the eastern districts of the city and allow operations there to come under international scrutiny.

"This is a starting point," Delattre told reporters. "We will be extremely attentive, extremely vigilant."

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said there were about 100 UN staff in western Aleppo -- the vast majority of whom are Syrian nationals -- who could begin monitoring quickly but he declined to give a timetable.

"We are looking at the modalities of who would go where, within the city," Dujarric said. "Obviously there are security concerns and issues of access that need to be worked out."

Russia, Syria's main ally, said the Damascus government was on board.

"We kept contact with our Syrian colleagues here all the time so they were aware of the process and they did not raise any serious objections to what we delivered," said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.

Russia had threatened to veto a first draft circulated by France on Friday but following nearly four hours of consultations on Sunday, a compromise text was agreed.

Ban is to report to the council within five days on whether access has been granted by the Syrian government, which has repeatedly blocked UN aid.

- Shift from Russia ? -

The adoption of the resolution could mark a shift from Russia toward renewed international engagement in efforts to settle the conflict.

"We need that change," said British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft. 

"It's Russian policy that has blocked the unity that the Security Council requires in order to set a course to end this conflict."

The last round of UN-brokered peace talks ended in April, with no progress on the key issue of Syria's future government and the fate of President Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands of traumatized Syrians left the enclave Monday under a complex evacuation agreement that will see regime forces exert full control over the battered city.

These were the first departures since Friday when the government suspended evacuations, insisting on a tit-for-tat deal to allow civilians and fighters to leave two northwestern villages under rebel siege.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari accused Western powers of scrambling to send observers to east Aleppo to rescue what he described as foreign spies supporting the opposition forces.

"The main purpose is how to rescue these terrorist foreigners, intelligence officers," Jaafari told reporters. "This is why you saw this hysterical move in the council in the last few days."

The Syrian ambassador said his government will abide by the resolution and denied that it had blocked access in the past to UN officials.

"The last terrorists in some districts of the eastern part of Aleppo are evacuating their strongholds," Jaafari said.

"Aleppo this evening will be clean," he declared.

Source: AFP