Obama under pressure at G20 over Syria
Print Edition
US President Barack Obama faced growing pressure from world leaders not to launch military strikes in Syria yesterday at a summit on the global economy that was eclipsed by the conflict.
The Group of 20 developed and developing economies is divided over the civil war in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to use the meeting in a seafront palace in St Petersburg to talk Obama out of military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad over a chemical weapons attack Washington blames on government forces.
Obama wore a stiff smile as he approached Putin on arrival at the summit and grasped his hand. Putin also maintained a businesslike expression. It was only when they turned to pose for the cameras that Obama broke into a broader grin.
The first round at the summit went to Putin as China, the European Union and Pope Francis — in a letter for G20 leaders — aligned themselves more closely with him than with Obama over the possibility and legitimacy of armed intervention.
“Military action would have a negative impact on the global economy, especially on the oil price — it will cause a hike in the oil price,” Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told a briefing.
The Pope urged the leaders to “lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution.” He has also invited the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics and people of other faiths to join him in a day of prayer and fasting tomorrow to end the civil war.
European Union leaders, usually strong allies of the United States, described the August 21 attack near Damascus, which killed an estimated 1,400 people, as “abhorrent” but added: “There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict.”
Putin says rebel forces may have carried out the poison gas attack and that any military strike without Security Council approval would violate international law, a view increasingly supported by others. Only France, which is preparing to join US military action, rallied behind Obama.
“We are convinced that if there is no punishment for Mr Assad, there will be no negotiation,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
With backing by Beijing and Moscow unlikely at the UN Security Council, where both have veto powers, Obama is seeking approval from the US Congress.
Putin has no one-on-one talks scheduled with Obama but hopes to discuss Syria at a dinner with all the leaders.
Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov portrayed the “camp of supporters of a strike on Syria” as divided.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi are in St Petersburg, hoping to secure agreement on holding an international peace conference on Syria.
One national leader at the summit said there appeared to be little chance of a rapprochement between Putin and Obama, whose relations soured following Russia’s offer of asylum to former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.
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