» 01/31/2012 10:16 SYRIA West and the Arab League to press Moscow for a UN resolution that will stop Assad The Security Council could deal with the Syrian crisis Thursday or Friday. An Arab-European draft resolution faces Russia's veto threat. The violence continue: yesterday a hundred deaths, especially in the province of Homs.
Beirut (AsiaNews) - The Syrian crisis is back on the agenda at the Security Council: a vote may be held on a resolution Thursday or Friday next the contents of which remain unknown. Already in October, the UN agency had tried to address the situation, but was blocked by Russia and China.
Moscow and Beijing had opposed a motion proposed by the West, on the Libyan model, in short leaving open the possibility of an intervention to stop the bloody military repression implemented by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The situation is slightly changed by the attitude of the Arab League, which is trying to intervene in the crisis and pressing for a solution that would see an end to violence, negotiations between the regime and opposition and free elections.
This attitude on the one hand gives power to those who want the end of the Syrian government. "Assad's fall is inevitable," the White House spokesman, Jim Carney said again yesterday. And today, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scheduled a meeting with Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby and the foreign ministers of France, Alain Juppe, and Great Britain, William Hague. The goal is to submit to the Security Council an Arab-European resolution, which gives support for the Arab League plan.
The Arabic attitude, on the other hand, also puts pressure on Assad’s main ally in the Security Council, ie Moscow. Russia has continued to sell arms to Syria, even in the current situation. Rumours at the United Nations, Elaraby is set to declare a veto on the proposed motion a veto on the Arab world.
Perhaps expecting such a move, yesterday, the Russian foreign ministry proposed that the Syrian government and the opposition meet in Moscow for "informal contacts" without preconditions. A proposal rejected by the opposition "because it is not part of the solution. The only thing that we could accept - Aljazeera Rim Turkmani, an exponent of the opposition to Assad, has stated - are negotiations leading to a transition of power. "
But it seems the regime wants to resolve the situation by accelerating the repression. The coordination of the opposition said that yesterday there were hundreds of deaths, especially in the province of Homs. (PD)
