The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #143239   Message #3385953
Posted By: Jim Carroll
04-Aug-12 - 06:32 AM
Thread Name: BS: Homs horror (Syria, 2012)
Subject: RE: BS: Homs horror (Syria, 2012)
"Cameron said from the start that Britain would take action but not break the arms embargo."
Cameron's Senior minister and several Government supporters said publicly on television that the government had no intention of becoming practically involved in assisting the Syrians because of who might replace Assad
Still no response to the main points:
Something from the horses mouth for you to ignore (emphasis mine in case you try to accuse me of your trick of doctoring cut-n-pastes).
Jim Carroll


UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONDEMNS SECURITY COUNCIL
Michael Jansen in Damascus

The United Nations General Assembly voted by a large majority in New York yesterday afternoon to condemn its own security council for failing to end the war in Syria as fighting rages.
The non-binding resolution was passed by the assembly by 133 votes to 12, with 31 abstentions.
The move was clear evidence of global frustration with the key, per¬manent members of the Security Council: the US, Britain, France, Russia and China. These, along with other members of the council, have been unable to agree a common position on Syria, indulging instead in what former UN secretary general Kofi Annan termed "FINGER-POINTING AND NAME-CALLING" as he resigned on Wednes¬day his position as envoy to Syria.
His departure dismayed some ' members of the political opposi¬tion in Damascus.
Mouna Ghanem, spokeswoman for Building the Syrian State, said: "I expect there will be a rise in the violence as people might think any chance of a peaceful solution has gone. Internationally it is now the responsibility of Russia and the US to sit together and find a solution for their problem over Syria.
"It is high time to talk about a mediation group, conflict resolu¬tion specialists [that would] come to the country."
George Jabbour, former member of the Syrian parliament, said Annan's resignation was expected because he was unable to make progress in his mission. How¬ever, he said, if he had not under¬taken the task, the death toll "might have been much higher".
Mr Jabbour called on US president Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin to stop the bloodshed.
In London, British foreign secre¬tary William Hague described Mr Annan's resignation as "a bleak moment" to which he said Britain would respond by giving the rebel side more support, short of arming them.
"Given the scale of death and suffering and the failure so far of the diplomatic process, we will, over the coming weeks, increase our practical but non-lethal sup¬port. It will not involve sending armaments," he said.
There needed to be funda¬mental change in Syria, he said. "Diplomacy has so far failed the people of Syria. We do not give up on the diplomacy with Russia and with China. We will keep going with that as long as this situation continues but we will have to do other things as well."
In New York, Abdallah al-Moual-limi, the envoy for Saudi Arabia, which was the driving force behind the resolution, urged the assembly to maintain its moral and humanitarian values by approving it.
However, Syria's envoy, Bashar Jaafari, said Saudi Arabia and co-sponsor of the resolution Qatar could not themselves be considered oases of human rights.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, told the assembly the reported brutality in Aleppo, Syria's second city and commer-cial capital could amount to crimes against humanity.
"As we meet here, Aleppo... is the epicentre of a vicious battle between the Syrian government and those who wish to replace it... The acts of brutality that are being reported may constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes. Such acts must be investi¬gated and the perpetrators held to account," he said.
He repeated that he intended to replace Mr Annan when he departs formally at the end of this month.
"Despite repeated verbal accept¬ances of [Mr Annan's] six-point plan endorsed by the UN Security Council, both the [Syrian] govern¬ment and the opposition continue to rely on weapons, not diplomacy, in the belief that they will win through violence," he said.
"But there are no winners in Aleppo today, nor anywhere else in the country. The losers in this escalating battle are the people of Syria," he added.