UN powers hold talks on new Syria resolution

The five major UN powers held talks Tuesday on a new attempt to pass a resolution demanding an end to the Syrian government’s deadly attacks on protesters. This time the United States has led work on a text for the badly divided 15-nation council, where Russia and China have twice used their powers as permanent members to veto Syria resolutions. A current version being negotiated calls on the Syrian government to “immediately” cease all violence, withdraw security forces from protest cities and release prisoners held over the protests. It then goes on to call on the Syrian opposition to “refrain from all violence” once these conditions are met, according to the draft obtained by AFP. Ambassadors from permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States held talks along with the envoy from Morocco, the current Arab member of the council. None said that a vote was expected. “I don’t think you should expect anything specifically,” US ambassador Susan Rice told reporters on leaving the talks. Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin did not comment. But earlier Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, said his country believes the resolution is not balanced. The new US draft “is a slightly modified version of the last vetoed document. It should be substantially balanced,” Gatilov wrote on his Twitter account. Several diplomats said, on condition of anonymity, that there would be no developments on the resolution until UN-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan and UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos have finished their missions to Syria this week. Amos is to arrive in Damascus on Wednesday and stay for two days in a bid to persuade President Bashar al-Assad’s government to let humanitarian aid into the cities where the UN says at least 7,500 people have been killed in the past year. Annan is to go to Damascus on Saturday to press the humanitarian case and start efforts to persuade Assad to halt the deadly offensive. The Security Council talks were held after a briefing by UN political chief B. Lynne Pascoe who told envoys at least 150 civilians had been killed in Syria in the past three days and that the UN was increasingly concerned about numbers of refugees crossing into Syria, according to diplomats at the meeting.