U.N. diplomats on Wednesday indicated that substantial progress had been made in negotiations aimed at getting the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) approved a resolution endorsing an Arab League plan for ending the ongoing violence in Syria.
Diplomats from Western and Arab nations have been trying to convince Russia and China, both veto power wielding members at the UNSC, to support the Arab League plan after a UNSC meeting on the issue ended without reaching an agreement late on Tuesday.
The draft resolution based on the Arab League plan, backed by the Western nations, calls for a "political transition" in Syria for ending the violence triggered by continued suppression of pro-democracy protests in that Middle East country.
It requires President Bashar al-Assad to step down and authorize his deputy to begin peace talks with the Opposition within two weeks and form a national unity government involving the Opposition in two months.
Although the Arab League plan does not seek foreign military intervention or U.N. sanctions against Syria, it does authorize the UNSC to "adopt further measures" if Damascus fails to comply with the terms of the resolution.
The plan had evoked stiff resistance from Russia and China as they believe it amounts to regime change in Syria. Both the countries had indicated earlier that they would veto any resolution that imposes U.N. sanctions on Syria or authorizes foreign military intervention in that Arab country.
Russia and China in October jointly vetoed a Western resolution condemning repression in Syria. They were also opposed to NATO military operation in Libya that eventually helped in ousting the regime of Col. Moammar Qadhafi last year.
But on Wednesday, British envoy Mark Lyall Grant said progress had been made in the negotiations and noted that a vote on the resolution could be held in the next few days. He, however, added: "We are not there yet."
Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin also admitted that Wednesday's talks on the issue were positive and said: "I think we have a much better understanding of what we need to do to reach consensus." The developments indicate that the resolution that would be put to vote at the UNSC in the coming days will have a text agreeable to Russia, China and the Western nations.
Russia had earlier floated its own version of a resolution on Syria. The Russian draft blamed both the Syrian regime and the Opposition for the ongoing violence, but the West rejected it saying the measure fell far too short of their demand for strongly condemning the Assad regime for its brutality on civilians and pro-democracy activists.
During Tuesday's UNSC session, Western diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as her British and French counterparts, had defended the Arab League plan. They insisted that any U.N. action in Syria would not be in the lines of what happened in Libya. Clinton said it was "time for the international community to put aside our own differences and send a clear message of support to the people of Syria."
Despite past refusals by China and Russia to punish the Assad regime at the U.N. over its continued repression, the EU, the U.S. and Turkey have imposed several rounds of separate sanctions on the regime. The U.N. estimates that more than 5,400 people have died in Syria since pro-democracy protests broke out last March, apparently fueled by the 'Arab Spring' uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.
The Syrian regime continues to use tanks and hundreds of heavily-armed troops in military operations to put down the unrest. Assad blames "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign mercenaries for the trouble and warned against any foreign military intervention in his country.
Syrian activists claimed on Wednesday that at least 43 people had been killed in renewed crackdowns by security forces. But their accounts cannot be independently verified as the Syrian government has restricted access to most foreign media.
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