At least 2,600 people have been killed in Syria since pro-democracy protests broke out in March and President Bashar al-Assad sent in troops to crush the unrest, the United Nations said on Monday. The death toll, 400 higher than earlier U.N. estimates, was based on “reliable sources on the ground,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who released the data. The figures were almost twice the Syrian government’s estimate. Bouthaina Shaaban, one of Assad’s advisors, earlier on Monday said about 1,400 people had died – half of them police officers and half opposition activists. Syria blames armed groups and “terrorists” for the violence and argues the security forces are defending public order.
“With regard to Syria, let me note that, according to reliable sources on the ground, the number of those killed since the onset of the unrest in mid-March 2011 in that country, has now reached at least 2,600,” Pillay told the 47-member UN Human Rights Council. She did not identify the sources. Syria’s government has barred Pillay’s investigation team, and foreign journalists from entering the country. Syria had also repeatedly blocked UN efforts to get human rights monitors into the country, UN humanitarian affairs chief Valerie Amos told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Video and mobile phone images emerging from the country during the six months of arrest have appeared to show tanks and soldiers firing on unarmed protesters. The UN Security Council has so far failed to agree on a resolution that would impose sanctions on Syria over the violence, largely due to resistance from Russia and China. There has been no hint in the West of any appetite for military action along the lines of the NATO bombing that helped topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.
Syria has three times Libya’s population and has complicated ties with neighbours on the faultlines of mid-East conflicts. After talks in Damascus with Assad, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said they had agreed on a series of measures to help end the violence that he would present to member states. The European Union and the United States have already imposed their own sanctions on Syria and are considering toughening them.
slow on Syria: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told British Prime Minister David Cameron Monday it would be a mistake to put more pressure on Syria’s regime for its crackdown on the opposition. Medvedev told reporters after talks with Cameron that the difference between Russia’s approach to its traditional regional ally and that taken by the West was “not dramatic”.
But he stressed that any punitive actions must be applied equally to both sides of the Syria conflict because the opposition was continuing to reject calls to engage Assad in direct talks. “This resolution must be strict, but it must not lead to the automatic application of sanctions,” Medvedev said in reference to a UN Security Council action proposed by Western powers. Russia has blocked previous attempts by the world governing body to sanction President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and is promoting a separate draft resolution that simply calls on both sides to open direct talks.
Medvedev last week also called some of those protesting against Assad “terrorists” and refused to agree with Western states that no longer recognise Assad’s legitimacy. “Syria is already facing a large number of sanctions imposed by both the European Union and the United States, and additional pressure is absolutely unnecessary at this time,” Medvedev said. Cameron for his part acknowledged that he and Medvedev had essentially failed to breach their gap on the dispute. “There is a difference of perspective between Russia and Britain on this issue,” Cameron said. “Clearly, Britain would like to go further. We do not see a future for Assad.” The two leaders’ inability to agree on Syria came amid renewed efforts by Russia to play the role of key mediator in a region where it has lost much of its influence since Soviet times.
