UNITED NATIONS —
Diplomats claimed considerable progress Wednesday toward overcoming Russian objections to a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at halting the violence in Syria, but demands that President Bashar Assad step aside remained a major sticking point.
Following a closed-door meeting, several diplomats said they were encouraged by a new constructive attitude in discussions and some held out the possibility of a vote before by Friday.
“We are still looking for a vote this week,” British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said. “But there are a lot of difficult issues and we are not there yet.”
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin also sounded upbeat, saying: “I think we have a much better understanding of what we need to do to reach consensus.”
Western diplomats insist the U.N. resolution be based on an Arab League peace plan calling for Assad to step down, allowing for the formation of a new government.
The plan also calls on Assad, who has been using police and the military to put down an uprising for the past 10 months, to end the violence.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the call for Assad to step aside remained “one of the more difficult issues.”
“There’s no certainty. These are tough issues,” Rice said, adding that a “constructive and roll-up-your-sleeves manner” during the session gave her hope for eventual agreement on a resolution being drafted by Morocco.
“We’re not talking weeks, but we’re not talking tomorrow,” she said.
Ambassadors from India, Germany and other countries said they expected Morocco, the resolution’s key sponsor, to prepare a new draft for discussion by council members on Thursday.
Russian officials have said they’ll oppose the resolution if it contains any hint of a military intervention or regime change in Syria, a major ally.
Churkin told reporters before Wednesday’s session that a change in the current language calling for Assad to step aside “would make it easier for us” to approve.
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the foreign ministers of Britain and France joined Arab League officials in a high-level meeting at the U.N. urging council members to approve the resolution.
Clinton reiterated Wednesday that it was important for the council to move quickly.
“Every member of the council has to make a decision, whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the Syrian people ... or are you on the side of a brutal dictatorial regime?” she said.
Clinton has said she will discuss the resolution with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov at the Munich Security Conference in Germany this weekend.
Amnesty International called on Russia to stop what it said was its “unconscionable” obstruction of U.N. efforts to help end the bloodshed in Syria. The U.N. said several weeks ago that at least 5,400 people have been killed in the 10-month-old government crackdown on a civilian uprising.
Russia and China used a double veto in October to block an earlier Security Council resolution condemning the violence in Syria.
“Russia’s threats to abort a binding U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria for the second time are utterly irresponsible,” Jose Luis Diaz, Amnesty International’s U.N. representative, said Wednesday.
“Russia bears a heavy responsibility for allowing the brutal crackdown on legitimate dissent in Syria to continue unchecked,” he said.
Diaz noted that Russia is the Syrian government’s largest overseas arms supplier and reportedly has continued arms shipments to the country in recent weeks.
Martin Nesirky, the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said Wednesday that Ban Ki-moon hopes the international community, and the Security Council in particular, will respond to the violence in Syria with “a unified voice.”
“He’s concerned that as time passes more people are being killed,” Nesirky said. “The need for action is because of the need to stop the killing.”
———
Associated Press writers Eileen Alt Powell at the United Nations and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
Top News
UN council envoys claim progress on Syria talks
-
-
Georgia Aquarium welcomes beluga whale calf
A beluga whale at Georgia Aquarium has given birth to her first calf.
-
96 Yemeni soldiers killed in suicide bombing
A Yemeni soldier detonated a bomb hidden in his military uniform during a rehearsal for a military parade, killing 96 fellow soldiers and wounding at least 200 on Monday in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in years.
-
Allies on ‘irreversible’ course to end Afghan war
President Barack Obama and leaders around the globe locked down an exit path from the war in Afghanistan, affirming Monday that they will close the largely stalemated conflict at the end of 2014, a strategy that means their troops will still be fighting and dying for another two-plus years.
-
Prosecutors to appeal sentence in webcam case
Prosecutors say they will appeal the 30-day jail sentence given Monday to a former Rutgers University student who used a webcam to spy on his roommate kissing another man.
-
Today in History for Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Today is Tuesday, May 22, the 143rd day of 2012. There are 223 days left in the year.
-
Jekyll Island reaches milestone in $50M makeover
After six years of planning and 18 months of construction, Georgia officials on Sunday celebrated the opening of Jekyll Island’s new beachfront convention center — the centerpiece of a multimillion-dollar makeover aimed at winning back tourist groups and business groups that had given up on the state park’s dated amenities.
-
VIDEO: 'Ring of fire' solar eclipse
The solar eclipse that took place Sunday evening was an annular eclipse, one in which the moon blocks almost all of the sun. Some of the best viewing was in Asia, as with this video filmed in Japan.
-
Party leaders refuse to budge on debt positions
Republicans and Democrats are refusing to budge when it comes to their already hardened positions on spending cuts versus tax increases to deal with the nation’s debt.
-
Protesters march through Chicago to NATO summit
Thousands of protesters marched through downtown Chicago on Sunday in one of the city’s largest demonstrations in years, airing grievances about war, climate change and a wide range of other complaints as world leaders assembled for a NATO summit.
-
Prison guard dies, others hurt in ‘disturbance’
A guard at a southwest Mississippi prison died Sunday and several other employees were injured during what the facility’s private operator is calling “an inmate disturbance” that continued into the evening.
- More Top News Headlines
-
Georgia Aquarium welcomes beluga whale calf
