U.N. Resolution 2042 approved the first 30 unarmed military monitors, who U.N. officials said could leave for Damascus
...The
City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
within hours.
The resolution also calls upon the Syrian government to "implement visibly" all commitments under special envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...'s peace plan -- including the withdrawal of all troops and heavy guns from Syrian cities.
The vote had been expected Friday but was held up by Russian objections to much of the text. Russia's ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that "substantive changes" had been made to make it "more balanced."
Russia and China vetoed two previous attempts by the 15-nation council to pass a resolution on the crisis which the U.N. says has left well over 9,000 dead.
A new resolution with a full mandate will be required for the full monitoring mission of more than 200 observers.
The resolution called on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
and the opposition "to guarantee the safety of the advance team without prejudice to its freedom of movement and access."
It "stresses" that "primary responsibility" for the observers' safety rests with the Syrian government.