UNITED NATIONS:
Russia and China on Tuesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution
threatening action if Syria's leader pursues a deadly crackdown on
opposition protests, sparking US and European outrage.
US
ambassador Susan Rice said the draft drawn up by France, Britain,
Germany and Portugal -- all angered by the double veto -- had been
opposed by countries who "would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime."
Rice
led a protest walkout from the council chamber as Syria's envoy
launched a bitter condemnation of countries seeking action against
President Bashar al-Assad.
Nine countries voted for the text
which had called for "targeted measures" if Assad did not call off his
assault on demonstrators, which the UN says has left at least 2,700
dead.
Russia and China voted against, killing the resolution
because of their veto power as permanent council members. South Africa,
India, Brazil and Lebanon abstained, reaffirming a divide in the
15-member body since NATO launched air strikes in Libya using UN
resolutions to justify the action.
It is the first Russian-China
veto since the pair blocked UN sanctions against Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe in July 2008. Russia alone blocked the renewal of a UN
mission in Georgia in June 2009.
The European nations have been pressing for nearly six months for a resolution on the Syria crisis.
In
recent weeks, European negotiators had withdrawn a threat of immediate
sanctions and then any mention of sanctions, instead using the phrase
"targeted measures" to warn of action.
But Russia, which has a
naval base in Syria, and China have both repeatedly threatened to veto
any resolution which threatens sanctions.
Russia has drawn up a
rival text which calls for dialogue and condemns opposition as well as
government violence. France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud said however
the veto meant that no resolution could now be passed by the Security
Council.
The veto was an "expression of disdain for the
legitimate aspirations that are being fought for in Syria," declared
Araud, who stressed the "numerous concessions" made to Russia, China and
the abstaining countries to get backing.
Russia's UN envoy,
Vitaly Churkin, said the European resolution was "based on a philosophy
of confrontation." The threat of sanctions, which the resolution called
"targeted measures," was "unacceptable," he added.
Churkin said
more emphasis must be put on the opposition violence and launched a
strong attack on the NATO campaign in Libya, raising new fears that it
could be repeated in Syria, despite denials by Western governments that
military action was envisaged.
China's ambassador Li Baodong spoke in favour of the Russian draft and said the Syria crisis must be ended through dialogue.
So far the council has only agreed two statements on the violence and Rice expressed her country's "outrage" at the result.
"Let
there be no doubt: this is not about military intervention. This is not
about Libya. That is a cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms
to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people," Rice told the
council.
"The United States is outraged that this council has
utterly failed to address an urgent moral challenge and a growing threat
to regional peace and security," said Rice.
"Let me be clear the
United States believes it is past time that this council assumed its
responsibilities and imposed tough targeted sanctions and an arms
embargo on the Assad regime."
The United States and European Union have passed their own sanctions.
Syrian
Ambassador Bashar Jaafari condemned what he called the "unprecedently
aggressive" language used by western envoys in the chamber.
He said those seeking action against Syria were "our enemies" and had no "humanitarian motive".
Rice
and her delegation walked out in protest as Jaafari accused western
countries of "inciting" violence in Syria, causing millions of deaths in
World War II and turned against western action in the Palestinian
territories.
The British ambassador soon followed, leaving one of his deputies to listen.
- AFP/cc
the leader in the production of weapons and WMD talking about peace and humanity.