2 Syrians Dead as China Urges End to 'Dangerous Situation'
China's Middle East envoy Wu Sike cautioned Syria during a visit to Damascus of the dangers of a government crackdown on dissent that he said "cannot continue," he told reporters in Cairo on Sunday.
Wu said that he "affirmed to senior officials in Syria of the danger of the situation and that it cannot continue," during his visit to Damascus on Thursday.
He said President Bashar al-Assad's regime must "respect and respond to the aspirations and rightful demands of the Syrian people," according to an Arabic translation of his remarks in Mandarin by an interpreter traveling in his delegation.
Wu said China supported an Arab League proposal for Assad's regime to hold talks with dissidents, some of whom he met during his visit to Damascus.
"Syria has to show some flexibility in that regard in order to help the Arab League implement its proposal," he said, when asked whether he believed Assad's regime should negotiate with overseas-based dissident groups.
China, along with Russia, vetoed a Western-drafted resolution at the U.N. Security Council on October 4 that would have threatened Assad's regime with targeted sanctions if it continued its campaign against protesters.
Asked whether China would veto further resolutions if the regime continued its crackdown, which the U.N. says has killed more than 3,000 people, Wu said he warned Syrian officials of the dangers of the continuing unrest.
He added that the "international community must respect Syria's sovereignty" and that China "would continue its efforts internationally and in the Security Council to find a solution."
Asked whether China would raise the pressure on Assad, he said: "At this time we must concentrate on ending the bloody clashes" through the Arab League's efforts.
Wu’s remarks came as an Arab League team was due to hold talks with top Syrian officials later on Sunday.
The Arab ministerial delegation led by Qatar aims in the Doha talks to try to reach "serious results and an exit to the Syrian crisis," a statement said.
In talks in Damascus last week, the Arab ministers warned Assad to stop the bloodshed and start meaningful reforms or face an international intervention, the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas reported on Sunday.
Citing well-informed Arab sources, the paper said the delegation told Assad on Wednesday that failure to resolve the crisis within the Arab fold would mean "internationalizing" the unrest.
"This would mean Syria should expect a foreign intervention and a painful international blockade on the economy and other aspects," the daily said.
The Doha talks come as Syrian activists put mounting pressure on the Arab League to suspend Syria's membership in the 22-member bloc.
"Assad's militias have been killing us for eight months. They arrest us and crush us ... And you, Arabs, who love rhetoric, what are you doing," the Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the motors of dissent, said in a post on its Facebook page.
The activists called for protests across Syria on Sunday calling for the League to "freeze the membership" of Syria.
At least two people were killed in fresh violence on Sunday, both by snipers in the flashpoint central province of Homs, a human rights group said.
Gunfire from a security checkpoint in the Deir Balaa neighborhood of Homs city wounded another 10 people, some of them critically, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France Presse.
On Saturday in Homs, 20 Syrian soldiers were killed and 53 wounded in clashes with presumed army deserters, while 10 security agents and a deserter were killed in a bus ambush, the Britain-based watchdog added.
It said at least 12 civilians also died from sniper or machinegun fire in the province.
Funerals were held on Sunday for eight of the security force personnel killed the previous day, state news agency SANA said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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