UN vote undermines peace efforts in Syria, says Russia

4 August BBC

Russia has said a resolution on Syria passed by the UN General Assembly undermines peace efforts there, as fighting continues on the ground.

Moscow's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters the resolution was one-sided and supported the armed opposition. Western nations praised the resolution, which passed by 133 votes to 12 with 31 abstentions.

It criticises both the UN's own Security Council and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.The assembly debated the resolution, which was proposed by Saudi Arabia, shortly after the resignation of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan and the failure of his six-point peace plan.In Syria, government forces backed by tanks launched a new assault in Damascus while shelling continued in the country's largest city, Aleppo.

Activists say more than 20,000 people - mostly civilians - have died in 17 months of unrest.Russia voted "no" on Friday along with China, Syria, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Burma, Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Among those states abstaining were India and Pakistan.

Mr Churkin told the UN that the Saudi-drafted resolution concealed "blatant support for the armed opposition".He said his country regretted the resolution which "only aggravates confrontational approaches to the resolution of the Syrian crisis, doing nothing to facilitate dialogue between the parties".It was "written as if no armed opposition existed at all", he added.

Mr Churkin pointed out that the resolution called on the UN envoy to work towards a transition to democracy in Syria, yet the envoy's task had been to arrange dialogue, not regime change.Russia and China have blocked three attempts in the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against Damascus.

Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, suggested Saudi Arabia and fellow resolution sponsor Qatar were trying to act as both "a fireman and an arsonist at the same time".

The resolution expresses "grave concern" at the escalation of violence in Syria and deplores "the failure of the Security Council to agree on measures to ensure the compliance of Syrian authorities with its decisions".

It says it is up to the Syrian government to take the "first step in the cessation of violence".Susan Rice, the US envoy at the UN, welcomed the passing of the resolution.

The UN General Assembly "sent a strong message today: the overwhelming majority of nations stand with the people of Syria", she wrote on Twitter.Britain's UN ambassador Sir Mark Lyall Grant said a "colossal majority" had supported the resolution.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "This resolution... sends a clear signal that the world stands together in condemning the Syrian regime's systematic human rights violations and in calling for accountability."During the assembly's session, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the conflict in Syria had become a "proxy war" and called on powers to overcome their rivalries in an effort to end the violence.

Fighting raged in the Tadamon district of Damascus for a second day on Friday.Eyewitnesses and activists say government forces used dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles to attack what is seen as the rebels' last stronghold in the capital.