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Western states refuse to adopt UNSC statement on Homs, Syria — Russian ambassador

Lakhdar Brahimi on Thursday expressed deep regret over the disruption of talks on evacuation of resident from ancient Homs districts

UN Security Council meeting EPA/JASON SZENES

UN Security Council meeting

© EPA/JASON SZENES

UNITED NATIONS, April 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Western countries in the UN Security Council on Thursday refused to adopt a press statement on the situation in Homs that would express unconditional support to efforts to resume negotiations between Damascus and opposition forces, as well as practices of local armistices in Syria. Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said this on Thursday after a meeting at the UN Security Council.

The Russian diplomat said that the British side put forward a proposal to adopt a statement on the situation in Homs. “We’ve discussed the text for two hours, but they refused to adopt very essential elements — our call for supporting the local conciliations, refused to support the resumption of the Geneva talks without any reservations of theirs,” the diplomat said.

He added that as a result, the SC members failed to come to agreement on the press statement. “They got mixed up and finally we agreed that the Security Council President, (Nigerian Ambassador to the UN Mrs. Joy Ogwu), would say a few words in support of Brahimi’s call for the completion of negotiations on Homs,” Churkin said.

UN-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi on Thursday expressed deep regret over the disruption of talks on evacuation of resident from ancient Homs districts. Under an agreement reached between the government forces and armed bandit groups, about 1,400 people have been evacuated from the city so far. Some 1,300 people remain blocked in the central part of the city.

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Middle East and North Africa Syria United Nations

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