Tuesday, 31 January 2012The UN Security Council begins a debate today on a new resolution on Syria.
The European-Arab draft backs an Arab League plan aimed at ending 10 months of unrest in Syria sparked by popular opposition to the rule of Bashar Assad.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who heads the League's Syria committee, will brief the Security Council on the Arab League plan, which calls for Assad to hand power to a deputy to form an interim national unity government.
Russia, which holds veto power in the Security Council, has said it objects to parts of the draft but was willing to negotiate. Russia, along with China, vetoed a previous resolution on Syria.
The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, has called on the world body to end its "neglect" of the violence in Syria, which the UN says has left more than 5,000 dead.
Rice said the draft resolution was "straightforward."
"There are no sanctions. There is no use of force or threat of the use of force, as some have alleged," she said. "It is primarily a straightforward condemnation of what has transpired, a call upon the government of Syria to adhere to the commitments it made to the Arab League, and an endorsement of the Arab League plan, which we think is vitally important and the minimum that the council should do."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend the Security Council session along with several European foreign ministers.
The head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalioun, said he had met with Russian officials, among others, in New York to convince Moscow to back the draft resolution.
As violence continued in Syria, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the Arab League's decision to suspend its monitoring mission over the weekend could have negative consequences.
"We are gravely concerned that as these Arab League monitors have pulled out, the Syrian regime has taken this as an excuse to just let loose in horrific ways against innocents," Nuland said.
Activists said at least 29 people, mostly civilians, were killed across Syria on January 30.
Syrian government forces, backed by tanks, are reported to have pushed back rebels on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.
A vote on the UN resolution is not expected until February 2 at the earliest. |
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
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