UN condemns itself for failing to end violence in Syria

[smurfy]

[url]http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/08/2012831604665629.html[/url]

[quote=Al Jazeera]The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution on Syria, which includes criticism of the Security Council for not stopping the violence.

The resolution was passed on Friday with 133 votes in favour, 12 against, and 31 abstentions.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, said as he addressed the assembly on Friday that the Syria conflict had become a "proxy war" and appealed to the major powers to overcome their rivalry and act to end the violence.

Ban said international players were "arming one side or the other" and warned major powers: "The immediate interests of the Syrian people must be paramount over any larger rivalries of influence."

The draft resolution denounces Syria for unleashing tanks, artillery, helicopters and warplanes on the people of Aleppo and Damascus. The draft also demands that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad keep its chemical and biological weapons warehoused and under strict control.

Ban said Aleppo, Syria's largest city, had become "the epicentre of a vicious battle between the Syrian government and those who wish to replace it".

He said the reported brutality in the city may amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes.

"Such acts must be investigated and the perpetrators held to account," he said.

Non-binding resolution

The draft resolution was expected to easily pass in the 193-member General Assembly after its Arab sponsors were forced to drop two key provisions in the original draft: a demand that Assad resign, and a call for other nations to place sanctions on Syria over its civil war.

As with all General Assembly resolutions, it is non-binding and carries only symbolic power.

Russia, which has consistently supported Syria at the United Nations, said it would not back the resolution because it was unbalanced and would encourage rebels to keep fighting.

Vitaly Churkin, the Russian UN ambassador, said on Thursday he could not support the General Assembly's “extremely unbalanced and one-sided resolution".

China also opposed the draft. Both countries have cast a double-veto in the Security Council three times to kill resolutions that could have opened the door to sanctions on Syria, or even military intervention.

The UN debate comes a day after Kofi Annan said he would step down as joint special envoy to Syria at the end of August.

He cited "finger-pointing and name-calling" in the 15-nation Security Council as one of the reasons for his decision to step down.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi said the failure of the envoy's six-point peace plan was partly due to disunity within the international community.

"What we call countries with influence were told to use their influence to pressure the parties to implement the plan," he said.

"They did not do so, therefore the failure is primarily the failure of the protagonists of this conflict, the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition, and this has been compounded ... by the disunity within the international community".[/quote]

[editline]3rd August 2012[/editline]

Latest footage from the UN headquarters in New York

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCqfwXeq6_8[/media]

[editline]3rd August 2012[/editline]

l8 r8 h8ers need to learn 2 read

[POLOPOZOZO]

Yeah Kofi Annan stepped down what a horrible clusterfuck

[Megafan]

[quote]Vitaly Churkin, the Russian UN ambassador, said on Thursday he could not support the General Assembly's “extremely unbalanced and one-sided resolution".[/quote]

He has just uttered the words every UN member state utters whenever Russia (or any of the other veto bros for that matter) issues a veto on an issue to roadblock any and all international progress, and there is no ironic middle finger big enough to suit it.