Syria crisis: UN Security Council mulls Assad measures
28 Jan BBC
The UN Security Council has met to consider a draft resolution
against Syria’s government.
Activists and the Arab League urged the UN to take stronger action
after a surge in violence this week in which dozens of people have died.
The UK, France and Germany drafted a resolution with Arab states,
supporting the League’s call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand power
to a deputy. Russia, an ally of Mr Assad, has said it will not back the
text.
Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told reporters after the meeting in
New York that the draft resolution was unacceptable, but Moscow was
ready to engage in further talks.
He said Russia had set out its “red lines” and that the resolution
should not contain any threat of sanctions or an arms embargo.
The draft “not only ignored our red lines but also added some new
elements which we find unacceptable as a matter of principle,” AFP news
agency reported him as saying.
“The Security Council cannot go about imposing solutions in crisis
situations in various countries of the world.”
The BBC’s UN correspondent, Barbara Plett, says Russia will not
support any measure that could mean regime change.
Moscow was also concerned about a warning of further measures if
Syria does not comply with the resolution, fearing that this could open
the door to outside intervention, our correspondent says.
Russia and China vetoed a previous draft resolution against Syria
late last year. Western nations have been hoping that Arab League
support for this resolution will soften Russian resistance. ‘Long
overdue’ The current draft, presented to the council by Morocco, largely
supports a plan outlined by the Arab League earlier this week calling
for Mr Assad to hand authority to a deputy, who would form a national
unity government with the opposition within two months. The draft
resolution calls for further measures if the Syrian government does not
comply with the call for political transition.
The council will not vote on the resolution until next week.
“There is now a chance that the Security Council will finally take a
clear stand on Syria. That is long overdue,’’ said German Foreign
Minister Guido Westerwelle.
The French ambassador to the UN, Gerrard Araud described the
situation in Syria as a major crisis.
“The country is sinking into civil war. We are desperately looking
for a political solution,” he said.
“We have here the League of Arab States which is proposing a
solution. So our reaction is simply to support it, but again, there is
nothing else.”
Syria’s UN ambassador, Bashar Ja’afari, expressed anger towards the
states that drafted the resolution.
“They are talking about my country without consulting us, without
sharing with us their concerns, their remarks,” he said. “They deal with
us as if we are a former colony, that we should subjugate ourselves to
their will. They are wrong and they will be disappointed.” Growing
violence The UN meeting comes amid a spike in violence across Syria,
with activists reporting 135 people killed in the past two days.
Gen Mustafa al-Dabi, head of the Arab League’s monitoring mission,
said violence had soared “in a significant way” in recent days. Earlier
in the week, the general had claimed that the Arab League mission had
helped reduce the level of violence in Syria. Opposition forces have set
up checkpoints in parts of the capital, and correspondents say forces
loyal to Mr Assad appear unable to maintain control.
The UN has conceded it cannot keep track of the death toll, which it
estimated as more than 5,400 people since the unrest began last March.
The government says it is fighting “terrorists and armed gangs” and
claims that some 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed. |
