India abstains from UNGA resolution on Syria; Kofi Annan resigns as UN Special Envoy for Syria; All parties in Guinea-Bissau called upon to restore order; UN-AU peacekeeping mandate in Darfur extended; UNSC demands DRC’s renegade soldiers, M23 to cease
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    • According to reports, after all efforts to pass a resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council had failed, the UN General Assembly adopted a Saudi-drafted resolution on Syria which denounced the escalating violence in the country and also demanded political transition. The resolution secured 133 votes while 12 countries voted against it. India was one among the 31 countries that had abstained. Explaining India’s stand on the issue, UN ambassador H S Puri said that the resolution made specific reference to the League of Arab States resolution which openly called for President Assad to step down from power and for other UN members to severe ties with Syria. India was not in favour of demands for regime change but said that the international community has to send a united message to the Syrian parties to refrain from adopting a military approach and to resolve the crisis through a Syrian-led political process. 1 India also found that the text made scant mention of the role of the armed opposition which could set a ‘dangerous trend’. 2

    Meanwhile, Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon announced the resignation of the UN-League of Arab States Joint Special Envoy for the Syrian crisis, Kofi Annan. Annan on a separate occasion stated that the increasing militarization on the ground in Syria and the lack of unity in the Security Council had ‘fundamentally changed the circumstances for the effective exercise’ of his role. 3

    In another development, all political actors and civil society in Guinea-Bissau were called upon by the UN Security Council to engage in consensual, inclusive and nationally-owned process to restore constitutional order in the country. The Council also reaffirmed the importance of the coordination of international efforts to address the crisis in the country and called on the Secretary-General to engage actively in the process. 4

    According to reports, the mandate of the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID) was extended for another year. On the same occasion, the Council also demanded that all parties to the conflict in the region immediately end violence and work towards a comprehensive peace settlement. 5

    In other developments, voicing deep concern at the worsening humanitarian situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN Security Council demanded that the group of renegade soldiers known as M23 immediately cease efforts to destabilize the region. The Council also strongly condemned ‘any and all outside support’ to the M23 and demanded that all support to the armed group, including from outside countries cease immediately. 6

    Indian economist Abhijit Banerjee was among the twenty six people named by the UN Secretary-General as members of a high-level panel to advise the UN on the global development agenda beyond 2015. The panel is expected to submit its report in the first half of 2013. 7

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