U.S., West Push for Syria Vote at U.N.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Washington will push for a U.N. Security Council vote on Syria later Saturday, a U.S. official said.
However, it was not clear what if any progress Clinton had made in bridging differences with Foreign Minister Lavrov over the terms of an amended Arab- and Western-backed draft resolution in New York.
Lavrov had earlier warned of a "scandal" if the text went to a vote. His deputy said Lavrov would travel to Damascus on Tuesday for talks with President Bashar Assad in order to find a "political solution" to the crisis.
"Obviously, we're still working on it," the senior U.S. State Department official said when it was suggested not all the differences had been bridged.
"The secretary made clear that we feel, the United States feel, strongly that the U.N. Security Council should vote today," the official said.
"Foreign Minister Lavrov did not dispute the urgency of the situation and the action now moves to New York," according to the official.
"I'm not going to predict what's going to happen in New York," the official said when asked whether the United States would force a Russian veto of the draft.
"I'm not going to characterize how far we've gotten or not gotten," the official added when asked if progress had been made in bridging the gap between Russia and the sponsors of the resolution.
Asked if the United States was still hopeful that Russia would vote "yes," she replied: "We are."
Two-thirds of the 45-minute meeting between Clinton and Lavrov on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the official said, were dominated by the deliberations in New York.
The pair had "a very vigorous discussion" during a meeting that lasted 15 minutes longer than planned, the official added.
Before heading to Munich from Moscow, Lavrov said the draft does "not suit us at all" and warned of a "scandal" if the text was brought to a vote.
Meanwhile, The Western allies are "determined to vote today," France's U.N. ambassador, Gerard Araud, said ahead of talks in the Security Council.
British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant also said: "We expect a vote today."
That stand drew the battle lines for a showdown between the Western powers and Russia in the Security Council just hours after allegations that between 217 and 260 civilians had been massacred by Syrian forces in the city of Homs.
Russia has refused to support a Western-Arab draft resolution that would condemn the Syrian government's bloody crackdown on a 10-month old uprising and require President Bashar Assad to abide by an Arab League timetable for political reform, including his own resignation.
Source: Agence France Presse
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