LOC03:37
00:37 GMT
NEW YORK, Feb 23 (KUNA) -- Despite pleas for an immediate action to stop the bloodshed in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, the UN Security Council remained divided on Thursday on how to effectively halt the hostilities.
Due to Russian objection, the Council meeting, chaired by Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, decided to postpone voting on a draft resolution put forward by Kuwait - Council President for February - and Sweden.
The draft calls for a 30-day cessation of hostilities in the area, located some 15 km. to the east of the Syrian capital city of Damascus.
"You can still save lives in Eastern Ghouta and elsewhere in Syria," said Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in briefing the Council, via videoconference from Geneva, on the current situation.
"I urge you to do so. Millions of battered and beleaguered children, women and men depend on meaningful action by this Council," he said.
Lowcock said UN agencies had described a picture of hell on Earth. There must now be a sustained cessation of hostilities enabling immediate, safe, unimpeded and sustained deliveries of humanitarian aid, evacuation of the critically sick and wounded and an alleviation of the suffering of the Syrian people.
Following the briefing, the Council members expressed their horror at the unfolding situation and discussed how best to proceed.
They agreed there was only a political solution to the crisis, with many urging a genuine willingness, especially from those with influence, to move in that direction.
Many requested an immediate vote for and the adoption of a draft resolution that called for a 30-day ceasefire in eastern Ghouta to allow for aid delivery and civilian evacuations.
However, the Russian Federation's delegate Vassily A. Nebenzia said all facts must be considered, including that some actors in Syria - including the White Helmets - cloaked themselves as humanitarian actors while they were not, in fact, impartial, and that terrorist groups operating in the city were staging attacks on Damascus.
Further, the draft resolution lacked the support of all Council members, Nebenzia claimed, emphasizing that his delegation had repeatedly asked what measures were in place to ensure the implementation of the proposed ceasefire, but had yet to receive an answer.
Some delegates cautioned against politicizing the matter, with Bolivia's representative saying that if the draft resolution would be put to a vote with the knowledge it would be rejected, then the aim would really be to "score a few headlines in the media."
The Russian Federation's presentation of language with a view to continuing negotiations was indispensable, he said, stressing that the Council was now being tested on its ability to achieve unity.
UK delegate Stephen Hickey said the suffering of the civilians - while primarily resulting from the Syrian regime's escalation of its aerial bombardment and its use of chemical weapons and cluster bombs, which constituted war crimes and breaches of international law - brought shame on all Council members.
They owed it to the people of eastern Ghouta to take action. Expressing gratitude to the White Helmets for their humanitarian work on the ground, he said the Assad regime continued to pedal the myth that all those opposing it were terrorists.
"The people of eastern Ghouta are not terrorists," he stressed, emphasizing that only a small percentage of the people in that area were affiliated with Al-Nusra Front. Nothing could justify attacks against civilians.
Also condemning attacks against the Russian Federation's embassy in Damascus, he said there was an urgent need for an immediate cession of all hostilities. If all those present at today's meeting committed to that goal, it could save the lives of countless civilians.
Therefore, Hickey voiced support for the draft resolution to be voted on later today, calling on Council members to reverse their past failures by adopting that text.
On her part, Kelley A. Eckels-Currie, the United States, wanting to add vignettes from victims to the visions of "hell on Earth" that the Special Envoy had presented today, read several messages from people living in that "hell."
"These are not terrorists showing up in makeshift emergency rooms," she said, adding that they were people.
"The Assad regime wanted to bomb or starve its people into submission, counting on the Russian Federation for support. The Russian Federation now seemed to be blocking a solution to the situation.
"The draft resolution under discussion, which had been negotiated by all members over the past three weeks, provided a way forward," she said, underscoring that the United States was ready to vote on the text immediately and urging the Council to move forward with calling for a ceasefire. (end)
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