This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/24/syria-widens-faultlines-divided-un
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Syria crisis widens faultlines at divided UN | Syria crisis widens faultlines at divided UN |
| (7 days later) | |
| The police barricades are up and the traffic has begun to congeal across midtown Manhattan as more than 120 world leaders make their annual pilgrimage to the UN headquarters to declaim, appeal, cajole and sometimes threaten each other. | The police barricades are up and the traffic has begun to congeal across midtown Manhattan as more than 120 world leaders make their annual pilgrimage to the UN headquarters to declaim, appeal, cajole and sometimes threaten each other. |
| It is seldom an edifying spectacle but the mood this year is so sour it is being compared to the cold war. | It is seldom an edifying spectacle but the mood this year is so sour it is being compared to the cold war. |
| The root of the bitterness lies in the worsening Syrian conflict, which has divided the security council to the point of paralysis along familiar faultlines. Russia and China have vetoed three resolutions in a row aimed at curbing the slaughter, and the council has not even been able to agree on humanitarian relief. | The root of the bitterness lies in the worsening Syrian conflict, which has divided the security council to the point of paralysis along familiar faultlines. Russia and China have vetoed three resolutions in a row aimed at curbing the slaughter, and the council has not even been able to agree on humanitarian relief. |
| The conflict is already spilling over Syria's borders, at a time when another Middle East conflict, possibly with even darker consequences, is constantly threatening to break out between Israel and Iran. Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are both in New York this week to deliver speeches more likely to stoke than soothe the gathering fear of war. The world's powers have no coherent response. | The conflict is already spilling over Syria's borders, at a time when another Middle East conflict, possibly with even darker consequences, is constantly threatening to break out between Israel and Iran. Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are both in New York this week to deliver speeches more likely to stoke than soothe the gathering fear of war. The world's powers have no coherent response. |
| France's UN ambassador, Gérard Araud, setting the scene at the UN Turtle Bay headquarters before this week's general assembly, said the security council "has never been as paralysed as it is today since the end of the cold war". | France's UN ambassador, Gérard Araud, setting the scene at the UN Turtle Bay headquarters before this week's general assembly, said the security council "has never been as paralysed as it is today since the end of the cold war". |
| The key players are distancing themselves from the unfolding debacle. Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao are not coming at all. Barack Obama is expected to make a "drive-by" appearance, with a stern speech on Tuesday very much with UN-averse American voters in mind. He will not stick around for lunch or for the customary round of bilateral meetings with other leaders, leaving that to Hillary Clinton. | The key players are distancing themselves from the unfolding debacle. Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao are not coming at all. Barack Obama is expected to make a "drive-by" appearance, with a stern speech on Tuesday very much with UN-averse American voters in mind. He will not stick around for lunch or for the customary round of bilateral meetings with other leaders, leaving that to Hillary Clinton. |
| Even the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, normally a byword for courtesy and euphemism, is expected to issue an impatient rebuke to the global statesmen in the chamber for their fecklessness when he opens the session. Aides are describing the address as "no more Mr Nice Guy". | Even the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, normally a byword for courtesy and euphemism, is expected to issue an impatient rebuke to the global statesmen in the chamber for their fecklessness when he opens the session. Aides are describing the address as "no more Mr Nice Guy". |
| If there was ever a moment for speaking out, this is probably it. The security council is no stranger to impasse, but seldom has the deadlock come at such a high human cost. The death toll in Syria by UN estimates is 20,000 and climbing sharply, and 1.5 million civilians, probably far more, have fled their homes. | If there was ever a moment for speaking out, this is probably it. The security council is no stranger to impasse, but seldom has the deadlock come at such a high human cost. The death toll in Syria by UN estimates is 20,000 and climbing sharply, and 1.5 million civilians, probably far more, have fled their homes. |
| Abeer Etefa, a World Food Programme officer who visited Homs and other areas last week, said: "People are constantly on the move. Some have moved two or three times trying to escape the violence. There are 35 people in an apartment in some places, living in places with no doors or windows. They badly need blankets and baby milk." | Abeer Etefa, a World Food Programme officer who visited Homs and other areas last week, said: "People are constantly on the move. Some have moved two or three times trying to escape the violence. There are 35 people in an apartment in some places, living in places with no doors or windows. They badly need blankets and baby milk." |
| Leila Zerrougui, the UN special representative on children in conflict, warned the security council last week that children were suffering disproportionately, saying UN agencies had "documented government attacks on schools, children denied access to hospitals, girls and boys suffering and dying in bombardments of their neighbourhoods and also being subject to torture, including sexual violence". | Leila Zerrougui, the UN special representative on children in conflict, warned the security council last week that children were suffering disproportionately, saying UN agencies had "documented government attacks on schools, children denied access to hospitals, girls and boys suffering and dying in bombardments of their neighbourhoods and also being subject to torture, including sexual violence". |
| Human Rights Watch has reported that government forces appear to be deliberately targeting bread queues, citing 10 cases of artillery bombardment or air strikes outside bakeries in Aleppo province in August alone. | Human Rights Watch has reported that government forces appear to be deliberately targeting bread queues, citing 10 cases of artillery bombardment or air strikes outside bakeries in Aleppo province in August alone. |
| Reporting by human rights groups and the UN itself has consistently found that the overwhelming majority of atrocities in the Syrian conflict have been committed by forces loyal to the president, Bashar al-Assad, although abuses by the fragmented rebel groups are also on the rise as the conflict spirals. | Reporting by human rights groups and the UN itself has consistently found that the overwhelming majority of atrocities in the Syrian conflict have been committed by forces loyal to the president, Bashar al-Assad, although abuses by the fragmented rebel groups are also on the rise as the conflict spirals. |
| In the face of clear evidence of abuses by the Syrian regime, however, both Russia and China have adamantly refused to support any security council resolutions that pressure Assad, even when the wording excludes military action. They are also not prepared to discuss authorising an international criminal court investigation into the war crimes committed by all sides. | In the face of clear evidence of abuses by the Syrian regime, however, both Russia and China have adamantly refused to support any security council resolutions that pressure Assad, even when the wording excludes military action. They are also not prepared to discuss authorising an international criminal court investigation into the war crimes committed by all sides. |
| Even after Zerrougui gave her chilling briefing last week on the killing and torture of children, the response of the Russians and Chinese, together with Pakistan and Azerbaijan, was to seek (unsuccessfully) to restrict the scope of the UN envoy's inquiries and to refuse to back an annual resolution condemning the use of child soldiers and the deaths of children in conflict. Michael Williams, who served both as UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process and for Lebanon, said: "I hope that in the margins in New York there would be some possibility to engage with the Russians and Chinese, but I'm not going to hold my breath." | Even after Zerrougui gave her chilling briefing last week on the killing and torture of children, the response of the Russians and Chinese, together with Pakistan and Azerbaijan, was to seek (unsuccessfully) to restrict the scope of the UN envoy's inquiries and to refuse to back an annual resolution condemning the use of child soldiers and the deaths of children in conflict. Michael Williams, who served both as UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process and for Lebanon, said: "I hope that in the margins in New York there would be some possibility to engage with the Russians and Chinese, but I'm not going to hold my breath." |
| There are many factors underpinning Moscow and Beijing's hard line. Damascus has long been a Russian ally, and a buyer of Russian arms. The Syrian port of Tartus is the only Russian military base outside the former Soviet Union and its sole foothold in the Mediterranean. Both Russia and China feel badly burned by allowing security council resolution 1973 to pass in March 2011 authorising "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians, which was then used by Nato as a mandate to help topple Muammar Gaddafi. | There are many factors underpinning Moscow and Beijing's hard line. Damascus has long been a Russian ally, and a buyer of Russian arms. The Syrian port of Tartus is the only Russian military base outside the former Soviet Union and its sole foothold in the Mediterranean. Both Russia and China feel badly burned by allowing security council resolution 1973 to pass in March 2011 authorising "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians, which was then used by Nato as a mandate to help topple Muammar Gaddafi. |
| The ghosts of the 2003 Iraq invasion and the furious debates that preceded it still hang in the air. Even though it was not fought on humanitarian grounds but rather on spurious claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the fiasco and subsequent US and British attempts to justify it helped reverse what was arguably one of the great moral advances of the post-cold-war era: the UN-backed principle that the international community had the "responsibility to protect" civilian populations when their own states were unable or unwilling to. | The ghosts of the 2003 Iraq invasion and the furious debates that preceded it still hang in the air. Even though it was not fought on humanitarian grounds but rather on spurious claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the fiasco and subsequent US and British attempts to justify it helped reverse what was arguably one of the great moral advances of the post-cold-war era: the UN-backed principle that the international community had the "responsibility to protect" civilian populations when their own states were unable or unwilling to. |
| "The whole concept of responsibility to protect has been forgotten and no one among the statesmen here has the courage to utter the words," Williams said. | "The whole concept of responsibility to protect has been forgotten and no one among the statesmen here has the courage to utter the words," Williams said. |
| He also criticised the west for giving up on diplomacy in the face of Russian and Chinese resistance. "Even compared with the old cold war days, there doesn't seem to be much active diplomacy to engage Russia and China. And there is a complete absence of the EU as a political actor," Williams said. | He also criticised the west for giving up on diplomacy in the face of Russian and Chinese resistance. "Even compared with the old cold war days, there doesn't seem to be much active diplomacy to engage Russia and China. And there is a complete absence of the EU as a political actor," Williams said. |
| "The tragedy is that the security council has not given diplomacy a chance in the case of Syria," Mark Malloch Brown, a former UN deputy secretary general, said. He argued that a tentative deal between the west, Russia and China in Geneva in June – by which the specific demand for Assad to step down was omitted in favour of the backing for a new government in Damascus by "mutual consent" – could have provided the basis for a settlement. | "The tragedy is that the security council has not given diplomacy a chance in the case of Syria," Mark Malloch Brown, a former UN deputy secretary general, said. He argued that a tentative deal between the west, Russia and China in Geneva in June – by which the specific demand for Assad to step down was omitted in favour of the backing for a new government in Damascus by "mutual consent" – could have provided the basis for a settlement. |
| "There was a road map forward," Malloch Brown said, adding that the US, Britain and France "got caught up in the theology" of trying to pass a "chapter 7" involving sanctions, and so divided the security council once again. Western diplomats counter that the Assad regime has shown it would use any agreement not enforced by sanctions as cover to buy time and intensify its counter-insurgency. | "There was a road map forward," Malloch Brown said, adding that the US, Britain and France "got caught up in the theology" of trying to pass a "chapter 7" involving sanctions, and so divided the security council once again. Western diplomats counter that the Assad regime has shown it would use any agreement not enforced by sanctions as cover to buy time and intensify its counter-insurgency. |
| Wherever the exact balance of blame lies, it is directed at the major powers in the security council rather than the UN as an institution. UN agencies such as the high commission for refugees and the World Food Programme are widely agreed to have performed as well as could be expected in Syria, hampered by severe restrictions on access and a critical lack of emergency funding from donors. | Wherever the exact balance of blame lies, it is directed at the major powers in the security council rather than the UN as an institution. UN agencies such as the high commission for refugees and the World Food Programme are widely agreed to have performed as well as could be expected in Syria, hampered by severe restrictions on access and a critical lack of emergency funding from donors. |
| However, Richard Gowan, an expert on the UN at New York University, said the security council had been effective on other fronts. | However, Richard Gowan, an expert on the UN at New York University, said the security council had been effective on other fronts. |
| "The paradox is that while the council has been paralysed over Syria, it has worked pretty efficiently on other issues this year. It has headed off a war between Sudan and South Sudan, and has provided a lot of co-ordination of peacekeeping operations in Africa. In Libya, it has helped the creation of the post-Gaddafi state," Gowan said, adding that, notwithstanding the ominous echoes over Syria: "We are not back in the cold war." | "The paradox is that while the council has been paralysed over Syria, it has worked pretty efficiently on other issues this year. It has headed off a war between Sudan and South Sudan, and has provided a lot of co-ordination of peacekeeping operations in Africa. In Libya, it has helped the creation of the post-Gaddafi state," Gowan said, adding that, notwithstanding the ominous echoes over Syria: "We are not back in the cold war." |
| But he admitted: "Everything else is absolutely overshadowed by Syria. Let there be no doubt that for many countries the Syrian crisis is really corroding high-level trust in the security council. And what is really looming on the horizon is a crisis over Iran." | But he admitted: "Everything else is absolutely overshadowed by Syria. Let there be no doubt that for many countries the Syrian crisis is really corroding high-level trust in the security council. And what is really looming on the horizon is a crisis over Iran." |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. | |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. Enter your email address to subscribe. |