UN Security Council unanimously calls for independent monitors for Aleppo evacuations

A French-sponsored resolutions calls on all sides in the conflict to provide access to the UN

Gunmen attacked buses sent to evacuate people from two pro-regime villages in northwest Syria, but a senior military source said the incident should not disrupt parallel evacuations from Aleppo (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The UN Security Council has unanimously called for UN officials to be permitted to monitor the evacuations from eastern Aleppo and the safety of civilians who remain in the city.

The 15-member council on Monday adopted a French-drafted resolution that “demands all parties to provide these monitors with safe, immediate and unimpeded access”.

Reuters said the 15-member council overcame divisions that have pitted Syrian ally Russia and China against western powers over the Syrian conflict to adopt the resolution.

The passage of the vote came as thousands more people were evacuated from eastern Aleppo. The recapture of Aleppo by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces has left thousands of people stuck in the last rebel parts of the city.

There have been widespread accusations leveled at Syrian forces of abuse and war crimes.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said it was hoped the presence of monitors would deter crimes against civilians as they left the city, those who choose to stay in the city.

“Of course the Syrian government doesn’t want more monitors,” she said. “If you’re doing bad things you don’t want monitors around to watch you doing them.“

The United Nations had 113 people ready to monitor, alongside officials from the International Committee for the Red Cross, Ms Power said. She said of the UN resolution: “Until it’s implemented, it’s just a piece of paper.”

The Security Council reached a consensus on a text on Sunday after several hours of negotiations. Russia had planned to veto the original French draft over concerns about sending UN monitors unprepared into “the ruins of eastern Aleppo”, UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

Rather, Russia wanted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to arrange security for UN monitors to enter eastern Aleppo in coordination with interested parties, meaning the Syrian government. The council agreed that such arrangements would be made “in consultation” with interested parties.

“We keep contact with out Syrian colleagues here all the time ... they did not raise any serious objections to what we delivered,” Mr Churkin told reporters.

Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said the adopted resolution was already part of our “continued daily efforts”, but he also described it as “another part of the continued propaganda against Syria and its fight against terrorists”.

“The last terrorists in some districts of the eastern part of Aleppo are evacuating their strongholds and Aleppo this evening will be clean,” he said.

Anywhere up to 500,000 people have been killed and up to 12m forced to flee their homes as a result of a civil war that has now entered its fifth year.