U.N. on Syria

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2012

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One of the chief topics of discussion during the week-long gathering of world leaders at the United Nations was Syria.

Much was said, but nothing was done.

Some 30,000 Syrians have died in the violence that has become a civil war pitting rebels against the forces of dictatorial President Bashar Assad.

Many voices denounced the Syrian tyrant who has chosen to wage war against rebels and civilians rather than relinquish power.

But no one had any answers to silence the guns and stop the bloodshed.

The inability to protect civilians and end the conflict in Syria reflects poorly on the United Nations, whose Security Council has failed to act.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said in a press conference Tuesday: “I recognize that we here in the United Nations have to prove that we can present international solutions that work — that’s the big issue. And of course I will admit openly that the fact that the Syria tragedy goes on day after day is very damaging for the standing of the United Nations.”

A representative from Albania said that Syrians “are suffering a primitive bloodshed by a regime that has irreversibly lost its legitimacy to lead.”

A Zambian diplomat offered: “Humanity has again been embarrassed by this unnecessary carnage.”

And Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Syria’s foreign minister Monday, to no avail. The U.N. chief’s press office said in a statement:

“The Secretary-General raised in the strongest terms the continued killings, massive destruction, human rights abuses, and aerial and artillery attacks committed by the government. He stressed that it was the Syrian people who were being killed every day, and appealed to the government of Syria to show compassion to its own people.”

One Syria scholar, Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy had a word for the U.N.’s efforts: “handwringing.”