UN SECURITY COUNCIL CALLS FOR SYRIAN TRUCE

TALK RADIO NEWS SERVICE

UNITED NATIONS – the UN Security Council agreed to back calls for a temporary ceasefire in Syria during the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Adha, as reports of heavy fighting between government forces and rebels groups continue less than 48 hours before the informal truce is set to begin.

In a press statement this afternoon, the Security Council urged all parties to the conflict, “in particular on the government of the Syria Arab republic as the stronger party”, to respect the ceasefire and uphold the cessation of violence.

The Council issued the statement after being briefed by video conference by joint UN -Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who first proposed the Eid Al Adha truce last week.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after the closed door briefing that Brahimi had extensively discussed the proposed ceasefire with Syrian officials, various opposition groups and other regional players. Churkin says he expects the Syrian government to officially accept the ceasefire on Thursday, and that he hoped opposition groups would make a similar commitment.

But the Russian envoy said it was still too early to tell if the ceasefire could be extended past the three days of Eid Al Adha.

“Lets see what happens the first days, this is a rather brief holiday. We do hope, of course, that if it takes hold then it can continue beyond the holidays.” he said. “This is not a structured ceasefire, this is a ceasefire which will depend on the good will of the parties involved.”

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Posted by Gary on Oct 24 2012. Filed under Breaking News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.