Saudis Shock U.N., Quit Security Council Over Syria

 Saudi Arabia said on Friday it refuses to accept its rotating U.N. Security Council seat, saying the council is incapable of ending wars and resolving conflicts.

“The kingdom sees that the method and work mechanism and the double standards in the Security Council prevent it from properly shouldering its responsibilities towards world peace,” the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

Syrian analyst Ethar Abudl-Hak, based in Damascus, said the Saudi step is no more than expressing its disappointment with the International polices regarding the Syrian revolution as well the reluctant role of the Arabic countries.

 The Saudis have grown increasingly frustrated with the U.N.'s handling of the Syria crisis. In September, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, abandoned plans to deliver his speech to the 193-member General Assembly because of the council's failure to take action in Syria and Palestine, according to diplomatic sources. "The Saudi decision … reflects the kingdom's dissatisfaction with the position of the U.N. on Arab and Islamic issues, particularly the issue of Palestine that the U.N. has not been able to solve in more than 60 years, as well as the Syrian crisis," a diplomatic source told Reuters.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia won, for the first time, a seat as a non-permanent member in the U.N. Security Council.

But the kingdom later said it was unable to take its seat until reforms were introduced.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry blamed the Council for failing in its duties toward Syria. It said this has allowed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to commit crimes against Syrian people without facing any punishment, according to AFP.

Abdul-Hak sees that the kingdom wants to say that all political initiatives by the UNSC or by the International community powers are giving more   chances to the Assad regime for more killing, even more, to give him legitimacy especially after dismantling the Syrian chemical weapons over the chemical attacks on Damascus suburns in August 21, and the ultimate cooperation form Bashar al-Assad's side, who recently joked saying that he deserves the Nobel Price not the International chemical watchdog.

The ministry also said the Council has been unable to resolve the decades-long conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. It also criticized it for failing to transform the Middle East into a region free of mass destruction weapons.  

The Syrian analyst considered the Saudi support for Armed rebels groups in Syria, especially the Islam army is a clear evidence that Saudi Arabia sees the Syrian solution will be through the field battles more than wasting time by political solution which may endorse the Assad regime presence and not putting any specific time for the transitional period.

Meanwhile, France said Friday it shared Saudi Arabia’s frustration.

“We have an ongoing dialogue on the subject of Syria with Saudi Arabia. We share its frustration after the Security Council’s paralysis,” Agence France-Presse quoted French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal as saying.

Nadal noted that France is proposing reforms to the council’s veto system. 

France in September proposed that the five permanent Security Council members no longer have the power to veto resolutions when they involve “mass crimes.”

Saudi Arabia was elected but rejected membership “until it is reformed and given the means to accomplish its duties.” 

Meanwhile, Russia on Friday sharply criticized Saudi Arabia for rejecting the U.N. membership, slamming the kingdoms “strange” argument that the body had failed over the Syria conflict.

“We are surprised by Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented decision,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “The kingdom’s arguments arouse bewilderment and the criticism of the U.N. Security Council in the context of the Syria conflict is particularly strange,” it added.

Meanwhile, if Saudi Arabia maintains its stance, the Asia-Pacific group of nations would have to propose a new candidate for the U.N. General Assembly to vote on.

“These things have to be decided by the group, and others, and I don’t know whether or not Saudi Arabia can be persuaded to assume its position,” said Pakistan’s U.N. envoy Masood Khan. Saudi Arabia was to replace Pakistan on the council.