Araud: Council to back Annan in Syria

The UN Security Council will likely issue a statement supporting Kofi Annan's Syrian peace-mediation efforts, the Security Council president said. The draft presidential statement proposed by France might be accompanied by a separate press statement drafted by Syrian ally Russia about recent bomb attacks that killed 30 people in Damascus and Aleppo, British Ambassador to the United Nations Mark Lyall Grant said. Presidential statements become part of the Security Council's permanent record while press statements do not. Unlike resolutions, neither is legally binding. French UN Ambassador Gerard Araud said he introduced a presidential statement to get quick backing for Annan because a resolution would take a week or two to reach a vote. He said his draft statement was "very limited" to Annan's mission and Lyall Grant, the Security Council president this month, said he expected the council would approve the statement when it meets Tuesday. "No one suggested that there was any particular sticking point," Lyall Grant told reporters. Russia and China twice vetoed resolutions on the Syria crisis. Lyall Grant wouldn't provide details about the statement supporting Annan. "It's essentially setting out the support for the position of Kofi Annan," he said. Annan, a former UN secretary-general, asked the council Friday to unite behind his effort to end the yearlong bloodshed in Syria that the United Nations says has killed more than 8,000 people.