DHAKA: Diplomats at the UN say the five permanent members of the divided Security Council appear to have reached agreement on a resolution to require Syria to dismantle its chemical-weapons stockpiles.

Their comments on Thursday came a day after Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said negotiators had overcome a major hurdle and agreed that the text of the resolution would include a reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows for military and nonmilitary actions to promote peace and security.

The five veto-wielding members of the Security Council have been discussing for weeks what to include in a new resolution requiring that Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile be secured and dismantled.

The US and Russia had been at odds on how to enforce the resolution.

Ryabkov said earlier that his country was ready to help guard Syrian chemical weapons sites and destroy president Bashar al-Assad’s stockpiles, but it would not ship any of the chemical arms to Russia for destruction.

‘We will be ready to help in guarding those facilities where work is being carried out,’ the Interfax news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying at an arms fair in the Ural Mountains city of Nizhny Tagil, reports Al Jazeera.

BDST: 2324 HRS, SEPT 26, 2013
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