French UN draft asks states to ‘redouble’ efforts against IS

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – France circulated a U.N. Security Council draft resolution Thursday that calls on all countries to “redouble and coordinate their efforts” to prevent further attacks by the Islamic State group and similar groups and “eradicate the safe haven they have established over significant parts of Iraq and Syria.”

The text, seen by The Associated Press, also condemns the recent attacks by the Islamic State group and urges countries to “intensify their efforts to stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters to Iraq and Syria.”

British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, whose country currently holds the council presidency, told reporters he will prepare a vote on the draft as soon as France wants.

French President Francois Hollande earlier this week vowed to pursue a Security Council resolution in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris.

Diplomats are indicating that a separate Russian draft resolution also seeking to unite countries against the Islamic State group will not go forward.

Rycroft said Britain is “strongly supportive” of the French text, saying it doesn’t go into detail on issues that have divided council members, such as Syria.

Rycroft said that’s not the case with the draft that Russia circulated Wednesday evening.

The Russian draft is a revised version of a text rejected weeks ago by the United States and others because it calls for countries to cooperate with nations in which counterterror operations are carried out – a clear reference to Syria, Russia’s ally, and President Bashar Assad.

Russia’s new draft, obtained by The Associated Press, condemns the Paris attacks, the downing of the Russian plane over Egypt and “all other recent terrorist attacks.” It calls on countries to “coordinate their activities with the consent of the states in the territories of which such activities are conducted.”

Rycroft said such language “seems to legitimize the authority of Assad.”

The British ambassador said there are elements of the Russian text that his country supports and that could be merged into the French draft.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the French draft is a good one and that his country is studying it. “I don’t think this is going to be a big problem,” he said, adding that perhaps both drafts could go forward, since Russia’s is more broad.

In a statement Thursday, French Ambassador Francois Delattre stressed the importance of uniting the international community against the Islamic State group, calling its threat “exceptional and unprecedented.”