FRI 29 - 3 - 2024
 
Date: Sep 27, 2011
Source: The Daily Star
Moallem calls on U.N. states to halt foreign meddling in Syria

By Louis Charbonneau
REUTERS

UNITED NATIONS: Syria’s foreign minister Monday appealed to the 193 U.N. member states to halt the “foreign intervention” that he said was behind six months of anti-government demonstrations that have not abated.
“We deeply regret the surge in the activities of armed groups in Syria, which have not waned [but] instead continued to spiral,” Walid al-Moallem told the U.N. General Assembly during its annual session in New York.
“The presence of these groups … is the manifestation of foreign intervention,” he said.


Moallem addressed the world body after news emerged that four Syrian soldiers were shot dead Monday as they tried to escape a military camp and troops sealed off towns in a continuing crackdown on opponents of President Bashar Assad, activists said.
“I assure you that our people are determined to reject all forms of foreign intervention in their internal affairs,” he said.


“From this rostrum, I call on states which have partaken in the unjust campaign against Syria to reconsider their positions,” Moallem said. “To them I say our people will foil your schemes.”
He also criticized the sanctions that the United States, European Union and others had imposed on Damascus.
Moallem said Assad’s promised democratic reforms have had “to take a back seat to other priorities.”
Faced with expanding street protests demanding an end to 41 years of Assad family rule, the president has sent troops and tanks into cities and towns across the country over the last six months.


The military crackdown has killed at least 2,700 people, including 100 children, according to the United Nations. Syrian authorities say 700 police and army have been killed during the unrest which they blame on “terrorists” and “mutineers.”


The United States and its European allies have attempted to persuade the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on Syria for the crackdown against protesters, but Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa – the powerful “BRICS” bloc of emerging nations – have resisted the push to punish Damascus.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country, one of the temporary council members, would “continue to press for a Security Council resolution” on Syria.


“If the repression continues, we Europeans will further tighten the sanctions against the [Syrian] regime,” he said.
A senior U.S. State Department official said Syria came up during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in New York Monday.


“I think it’s fair to say that Foreign Minister Yang understood and supported the notion of the Security Council taking further action and they agreed to have our ambassadors work on this in the coming days,” the official said.
The official added that the Chinese had not “signed off on sanctions” but had emphasized the importance of the role of the U.N. Security Council on the issue.
Yang touched on the subject of Syria during his speech to the General Assembly Monday.
“China is also greatly concerned about the developments in Syria,” he said. “We hope that the parties in Syria will exercise restraint”


He added that a Syrian-led “inclusive political process aimed at promoting reform and advanced through dialogue and consultation is the right way to resolve the current crisis.”

 



 
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