Clinton rallies 'friends' after veto by China and Russia
Source: Agencies |
February 6, 2012, Monday
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UNITED States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday called for "friends of democratic Syria" to unite and rally against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, previewing the possible formation of a formal group of like-minded nations to coordinate assistance to the Syrian opposition.
Speaking in the Bulgarian capital Sofia a day after Russia and China blocked UN Security Council action on Syria, Clinton said the international community had a duty to halt ongoing bloodshed and promote a political transition that would see Assad step down. She said the "friends of Syria" should work together to promote those ends.
Clinton was bluntly critical of Saturday's veto.
"What happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty," she said. "Faced with a neutered Security Council, we have to redouble our efforts outside of the United Nations with those allies and partners who support the Syrian people's right to have a better future."
Such a group could be similar, but not identical, to the Contact Group on Libya, which oversaw help for opponents of the late deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
However, in the case of Libya, the group also coordinated NATO military operations to protect Libyan civilians, something not envisioned in Syria.
US officials said a friends group would work to further squeeze the Assad regime by enhancing sanctions against it, bringing disparate Syrian opposition groups inside and outside the country together, providing humanitarian relief for embattled Syrian communities and working to prevent an escalation of violence by monitoring arms sales.
The Russian and Chinese vetoes at the Security Council effectively killed an Arab League plan that called for Assad to hand over his powers to his vice president and allow creation of a unity government. The resolution would have expressed support for that Arab League plan.
Russia and China used the double veto on the grounds that more consultations were needed to achieve a proper settlement of the Syrian issue.
They argued that the co-sponsors, including Arab states and the US, Britain and France, failed to take Russia's concerns into account.
Hours before the council met on Saturday, Russia circulated an amended resolution which, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "aims to fix two basic problems."
These were "the imposition of conditions on dialogue, and second, measures must be taken to influence not only the government but also armed groups," Lavrov said at the Munich Security Conference. The co-sponsors, however, did not take these concerns into account.
"The draft resolution that was put to a vote did not adequately reflect the real state of affairs in Syria and has sent an unbalanced signal to the Syrian parties," Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after the vote.
Li Baodong, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, regretted that the Russian amendments were ignored.
"It is regrettable that these reasonable concerns are not taken into account," he said.
"To push through a vote when parties are still seriously divided over the issue will not help maintain the unity and authority of the Security Council, or help resolve the issue," Li said. "In this context, China voted against the draft resolution."
Speaking in the Bulgarian capital Sofia a day after Russia and China blocked UN Security Council action on Syria, Clinton said the international community had a duty to halt ongoing bloodshed and promote a political transition that would see Assad step down. She said the "friends of Syria" should work together to promote those ends.
Clinton was bluntly critical of Saturday's veto.
"What happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty," she said. "Faced with a neutered Security Council, we have to redouble our efforts outside of the United Nations with those allies and partners who support the Syrian people's right to have a better future."
Such a group could be similar, but not identical, to the Contact Group on Libya, which oversaw help for opponents of the late deposed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
However, in the case of Libya, the group also coordinated NATO military operations to protect Libyan civilians, something not envisioned in Syria.
US officials said a friends group would work to further squeeze the Assad regime by enhancing sanctions against it, bringing disparate Syrian opposition groups inside and outside the country together, providing humanitarian relief for embattled Syrian communities and working to prevent an escalation of violence by monitoring arms sales.
The Russian and Chinese vetoes at the Security Council effectively killed an Arab League plan that called for Assad to hand over his powers to his vice president and allow creation of a unity government. The resolution would have expressed support for that Arab League plan.
Russia and China used the double veto on the grounds that more consultations were needed to achieve a proper settlement of the Syrian issue.
They argued that the co-sponsors, including Arab states and the US, Britain and France, failed to take Russia's concerns into account.
Hours before the council met on Saturday, Russia circulated an amended resolution which, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "aims to fix two basic problems."
These were "the imposition of conditions on dialogue, and second, measures must be taken to influence not only the government but also armed groups," Lavrov said at the Munich Security Conference. The co-sponsors, however, did not take these concerns into account.
"The draft resolution that was put to a vote did not adequately reflect the real state of affairs in Syria and has sent an unbalanced signal to the Syrian parties," Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after the vote.
Li Baodong, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, regretted that the Russian amendments were ignored.
"It is regrettable that these reasonable concerns are not taken into account," he said.
"To push through a vote when parties are still seriously divided over the issue will not help maintain the unity and authority of the Security Council, or help resolve the issue," Li said. "In this context, China voted against the draft resolution."
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