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BRITISH PRIME MINISTER David Cameron called on Syria’s president to step down following an escalation of violence and bombings in the capital Damascus.
Cameron also appealed to Russia and China to support a new UN resolution that threatens non-military sanctions and is tied to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which could eventually allow the use of force to end the conflict.
It is time for the United Nations Security Council to Pass clear and tough messages about sanctions, I believe under Chapter 7 of the UN, and be unambiguous about it.
The UN Security Council will vote today on a new Syria resolution after a last-minute delay failed to get key Western nations and Russia to agree on measures to end the dramatically escalating violence.
“It is time for him to go, it is time for transition in this regime,” Cameron said of the Syrian president.
Clearly Britain doesn’t support violence on either side, but if there isn’t transition there is going to be civil war. That is the clear fact that we can all see on the ground.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports today that the White House said that yesterday’s deaths of three top Syrian military figures shows that the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, is losing control.
ABC reports that the White House Press Secretary said that the administration doesn’t believe violence is the answer to the current situation in Syria, but it did not all-out condemn the killings of the three officials.
The dead men included President al-Assad’s brother in law, Assef Shawkat. According to the New York Times, the men were killed by a bomb which was was supposed to be a secure room.
Today’s UN vote threatens non-military sanctions against President Bashar Assad’s government if he doesn’t withdraw troops and heavy weapons from populated areas within 10 days and is tied to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which could eventually allow the use of force to end the conflict.
Russia, which is a close Syrian ally, has said it will veto any Chapter 7 resolution.
In Moscow on Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed to Wednesday’s deadly bombing and accused the West of inciting the Syrian opposition.
After a phone call from President Barack Obama to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday afternoon, the Russian and US ambassadors met at the United Nations but there was no breakthrough.
If the Western-backed draft resolution is vetoed, Russia could then put its rival text to a vote.
The council is under pressure because the mandate of the 300-strong UN observer force in Syria expires on Friday, and it must decide by then whether to extend it.
If neither the Western nor the Russian texts are approved, the council would then have until Friday to decide whether to extend the observer mission.
The unarmed observers were authorised for 90 days to monitor a cease-fire and implementation of Annan’s six-point peace plan.
- Additional reporting from AP
Why did NATO go hell bent on overturning the Gadaffi regime. I wonder had it anything to do with oil? The UN might as well be dressed as fairies in tootoos. Useless shower of shites.
NATO and his friends are cowards….and pick and chose were they fight…
@teresa..can you tell me exactly what he did…cos he did more in libya and i think the ordinary irish citizen has done more about syria than mr cameron..if i was in his position talking will be the last thing i will be doing..
Well done Cameron A+ on the obvious.
and what grade do you give Russia?
I know the man have to go..but cameron pls give us s break..i dont think you strike fear into anyone..
@mensah atleast he did something
Well under Assad there has being stability in a very mixed country of nationalities and religions… Now it’s turning into chaos, thanks to NATO supplying unknowns..
Its on the PNAC menu for post Cold War regional reconfiguration..running nicely..Afghanistan(heroin supply restored after Taliban shut-down),Iraq(oil back on stream to our boys), Pakistan( breaking up, they were always a bit too independent to trust), Libya(old scores and light sweet crude..plus that underground aquifer was coming on stream nicely after Gadaffi’s twenty year investment, plus his bolshie independent Africa message needed closing down)..the march on Moscow resumes…lotta resources out there in Siberia..dont want them drifting into deals with China the way Africa was starting to..whats not to like about the totalitarian global democratic dictatorship of the financial corporatariat?
This is not news. Cameron called on Assad to step down last Autumn.
and he has had MI6 on the ground for a year and a half ensuring it happens…its even been broadcast on BBC for anyone with a little longer attention span than a blipvert. PNAC moving along nicely…and note the escalation in the bad-boy Russia noises…guess where we’re going after Iran…I’d say Georgia region will provide the rationale for R2P intervention..Hillary Billary is already warming her gun.
And RTE right on message tut for tut. More analysis on Dustin than all of Father Savage’s and Mother Superior Prone’s PR pulpit.
Yeah!! That will scare him Cameron.
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