WarSclerotic

BBC News – UN Syria text drops call for Assad power handover.

(The “weasel factor” reigns supreme… – JW )

Diplomats at the UN Security Council have watered down a resolution on Syria in an apparent attempt to overcome Russian objections to an earlier draft.

The revised text – seen by the BBC – drops the call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hand over powers to his deputy – the key part of a peace plan proposed by the Arab League.

It also removes a reference to stopping the flow of arms to Syria.

The Russians argued that the Arab plan imposed regime change.

Ambassadors began intense negotiations on Wednesday, after a high-level meeting urging the Council to back an Arab plan to end the crisis.

Diplomatic sources say Western states appear to support the new text – drawn up by Morocco – on condition that it gets a yes vote from Russia, rather than an abstention, according to the BBC’s Barbara Plett at the UN headquarters in New York.

So far the Russians have been non-committal, she says.

Human rights groups and activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began in March.

Security forces closed public squares and set up checkpoints on Thursday in the flashpoint central city of Hama.

It came after protesters splashed red paint in the streets to mark 30 years since an uprising there was crushed by Mr Assad’s father Hafez, with the deaths of at least 10,000 people.

“They want to kill the memory and they do not want us to remember,” said an activist in the city, where residents said tanks blocked main squares to prevent demonstrations.

“But we will not accept it,” the activist told Reuters news agency.

Mr Assad’s forces have been fighting back against rebels – in recent days claiming back suburbs of Damascus and areas north-west of the capital.

‘Brutal regime’

On Wednesday, diplomats said discussions had been positive, with US Ambassador Susan Rice saying talks had been conducted in a “constructive and roll-up-your-sleeves manner”.

However, she also admitted that the call for Mr Assad to hand over power to his deputy remained “one of the more difficult issues”.

Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin also said progress had been made, saying: “I think we have a much better understanding of what we need to do to reach consensus.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had earlier said Council members must decide whether they supported the Syrian people or “a brutal, dictatorial regime”.

At least 43 people were killed by security forces on Wednesday, according to one activist group.

The UN stopped estimating the death toll in Syria after it passed 5,400 in January, saying it was too difficult to confirm.

The government says at least 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed combating “armed gangs and terrorists”.

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