The resolution makes no mention of whether Syrias president, Bashar al-Assad, would be able to run in new elections, which it says must be held within 18 months of the beginning of political talks.
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The resolution called for the United Nations to present the council with options for monitoring a ceasefire within one month of its adoption.
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Foreign ministers from 17 countries met for more than five hours on how to implement their call in Vienna last month for a cease-fire and the start of negotiations between the government and opposition in early January.
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The resolution came after Moscow and Washington clinched a deal on a text. It places the political process to decide Mr. Assads future under United Nations auspices, making it far harder for Mr. Assad to control the vote, and specifically requires that all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, be allowed to participate in the vote. “There obviously remain sharp differences within the worldwide community, especially about the future of President Assad”.
“President Assad in our judgment… has lost the ability, the credibility to be able to unite the country and to provide the moral credibility to be able to govern it”.
But he also said that demanding Mr Assad’s immediate departure was “prolonging the war”.
Several other council members, including the British and French foreign ministers, echoed this position.
Diplomats close to the talks said Friday that there is heated discussion among the nations in the meeting about the list of groups that will be considered terrorist groups and unable to take part in talks.
Earlier this week diplomats said some progress had been made on the most hard sticking point in the talks: Assad’s fate. “Now that we have a United Nations resolution… and a process moving”, he said, “the door is much more open… for us to consider greater ways of cooperation”.
De Mistura is now tasked with pulling together a final negotiating team for the Syrian opposition.
If a recently unified group of Syrian opposition elements who gathered for a meeting in Saudi Arabia one week ago should be recognized and negotiated with. U.N.-supervised “free and fair elections” are to be held within 18 months under the new constitution.
The 15-nation council expressed its support for statements agreed during previous talks in Geneva, Switzerland, and Vienna, Austria, while stressing that “the Syrian people will decide the future of Syria”.
The resolution also says cease-fire efforts should move forward in parallel with the talks, and it asks Ban to report within a month on ways to monitor the cease-fire.
The plan would also include a ceasefire.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said he presented lists submitted from each country of groups they consider terrorist organizations.
Kerry said after the vote that the resolution has sent a clear message that “the time is now to stop the killing in Syria”. He told reporters that he was “not too optimistic about what has been achieved today, but a very important step has been made… for Syrians to determine the future of their country”. Mr. Lavrov hinted at the disagreement there, saying it was inadmissible to divide terrorists between good and bad ones..
Foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries – including Russian Federation, the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other European and Middle Eastern powers – were set for talks aimed at ending Syria’s old civil war at New York’s Palace Hotel on Friday.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, confers with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, before they addressed a gathering in the U.N. Security Council of foreign ministers following a vote on a draft resolution conce…
