Brahimi is facing a 'mission impossible'

UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi Arab ministers on Wednesday called for an Arab intervention in the Syria conflict, while Western nations pressed Russia and China to drop opposition to international action. Arab ministers met with UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki said later that his country could support an Arab peacekeeping force in Syria. Others have doubts though.
"A peacekeeping operation by Arab nations is something we could well imagine," Marzouki told reporters, calling President Bashar al-Assad "a bloodthirsty dictator."
While Arab League Secretary General, Nabil el-Arabi, told reporters he did not believe all member states were willing to partake in military intervention, he told a Security Council meeting on the Middle East that it was imperative to support Brahimi by making its resolutions on Syria "binding to all parties." In a press conference later on, el-Arabi said he feels pity for Brahimi who seems to be faced with "mission impossible."
Russia and China have used their powers as permanent members of the council to block resolutions which could have led to potential sanctions three times now.
However, while Western ministers and diplomats say they do not expect Russia, Syria's main ally, to weaken its defence of Assad, they say China, which does not have the same strategic interests, may now be feeling pressure from Arab and other nations over its position.
Although none of the ministers specifically mentioned Russia or China, it was clear they were being referenced to when US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated that "the atrocities mount while the Security Council remains paralysed.”
France's Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, also weighed in, describing it as "shocking" that the council had been unable to act in the 18 months since the uprising against Assad started.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that "the future for Syria is a future without Assad." Addressing the 193-member assembly, he highlighted a report this week that outlined the horror suffered by children who have seen killings and been tortured in the conflict.
"The blood of these young children is a terrible stain on the reputation of this United Nations," Cameron said, before adding "in particular, a stain on those who have failed to stand up to these atrocities and in some cases aided and abetted Assad's reign of terror."
However, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov showed no sign of changing tack when he said that violence by the government and opposition had to be condemned.
"A significant share of the responsibility for the continuing bloodshed rests upon the states that instigate the opponents of Bashar al-Assad to reject a ceasefire and dialogue and demand an unconditional capitulation of the regime," he told the Middle East meeting.
On the other hand, China's Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, was more defensive, saying that "China has faithfully fulfilled its obligations and acted as a positive force in seeking a political solution to the issue."
"China is ready to join the rest of the international community in an unremitting effort to resolve the Syrian issue in a just, peaceful and appropriate way."
Meanwhile, Turkey's foreign minister has said the United Nations and the international community had performed poorly in the face of the ongoing crisis in Syria where tens of thousands of people have been killed in the country's 18-month-old conflict.
Davutoglu criticised the Security Council severely of failing to adopt "a single binding resolution on Syria where more than 30,000 people have been killed, over 50,000 people have gone missing, more than two million people have been displaced and more than 500,000 people have been made refugees. So, why do we need the UN?"
He did, however, say that Turkey had been in close consultations with the both the US and Russia over the Syria crisis, adding that Turkey's expectation was directed at the international community. He went on to describe how "mere cosmetic reforms" would not end the bloodshed in Syria, but that the country needed a comprehensive change, without which “no reform is possible."
Davutoglu also revealed that, despite his criticisms of the UN, in his bilateral meeting with the organisation’s Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, they discussed possible steps that could be taken regarding Syria, as well as plans to open a UN office in Istanbul.
The Turkish Foreign Minister also said Turkey, Brazil and Sweden had agreed to start an initiative to prevent offences against sacred values and religious beliefs, explaining that "we have mobilised an initiative under the name “three soft powers from three continents” and we are working on document to be announced at the UN level."