In a last-minute effort to get Russia to reach agreement on the wording of a resolution on Syria, the UN Security Council has postponed a vote scheduled for Wednesday, after special envoy Kofi Annan requested the delay.
Britain's UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said "we will be voting tomorrow morning," after talks among the major powers on Wednesday. The UK had taken the lead in drawing up the draft resultion, which threatens non-military sanctions against President Bashar Assad's government.
"A possible vote has been postponed until tomorrow morning," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters. The announcement comes amid differences between Moscow and western powers over sanctions and the use of force.
Use of force contentious
The resolution is tied to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which could eventually allow the use of force to end the conflict.
Article 42 of Chapter 7 would permit the Council to "take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security."
Article 43 calls on members to make troops available to the UN. As of Wednesday afternoon, the proposal to invoke Chapter 7 was likely to be refused by Russia and China, which have twice vetoed resolutions designed to pressure Assad to halt the violence.
Wooing Russia and China
A close Syria ally, Russia is adamantly opposed to sanctions and any use of force. Russia has regarded the bid to link the renewal of the UN mission to threats of sanctions against countries as "blackmail," saying that the observers in Syria were being used as "bargaining chips."
Russia has also put forward a resolution to extend the UN mission for 90 days, but it does not contain a threat of sanctions. The draft Russia had proposed on Tuesday was rejected by Britain, France, the United States, Germany and Portugal, according to diplomats.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was in China hours ahead of the scheduled vote to appeal for international unity, saying too many lives had been lost in Syria already. He tried to persuade Chinese leader Hu Jintao to back tougher actions to stop the bloodshed. Ban told reporters after his meeting with Hu that he had explained the situation and that "all the leaders in China" agreed with him about the severity of the long-running conflict.
mkg/ng (dpa, AFP, Reuters, AP) DW DE
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