St Petersburg, 05/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 5 September, the leaders of the world's 20 most powerful economies discussed the situation in Syria.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who is hosting the G20 summit in his hometown of St Petersburg, called on United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to raise this issue - which is not formally on the agenda of the meeting - during their dinner (which had not yet started at the time of going to press).
Supported by France, the US - persuaded that the Syrian regime is responsible for the chemical attack that took place at the end of August leaving 1,300 dead including civilians - wants to launch a limited military attack aimed at preventing the repetition of such atrocities forbidden by international law. This initiative is hanging on the approval of the US Congress. Backed by China, Russia is demanding irrefutable evidence of Bashar al-Assad's guilt, and considers any military initiative that has not received the approval of the UN Security Council as an aggression. The evidence put forward by the US authorities is “far from convincing”, and a military attack in Syria “could destabilise the world economy”, said Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesperson, on the sidelines of the summit.
Upon their arrival at the summit, the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy respectively, believed that a military solution to the conflict was impossible. They favoured a political solution. Describing the chemical attacks as a “crime against humanity” which was unable to remain without response for risk of creating a “dreadful” precedent, Van Rompuy stressed the role that the International Criminal Court can play by punishing the perpetrators of the attacks, and he believed it was necessary to deal with the Syrian issue “through the UN process”. He hoped that the report of the UN inspectors, who investigated the use of chemical weapons in Damascus, would be available “as quickly as possible”.
At the end of Thursday afternoon, a meeting of the leaders of EU countries (Germany, Spain, France, Italy) on the sidelines of the summit was raised - a meeting to define a common European position. The meeting was not, however, confirmed. “We will coordinate our position in the hours to come”, Van Rompuy said, of the opinion that this position was not very far from that which had just been presented.
Having creating over “2 million” refugees mainly in Lebanon and Jordan (see EUROPE 10913), the situation in Syria is the “the biggest human tragedy of our times”, Barroso said. The EU has released €1.3 billion to come to the aid of the victims of the conflict. (MB/transl.fl)