UN Council to discuss Syria Friday

The UN Security Council will discuss the Syria crisis Friday, and western and Arab nations could make public their draft resolution condemning the government's deadly crackdown, diplomats said. The unexpected meeting was announced by France's UN mission on its Twitter account after representatives of the council's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- held talks Thursday on the new resolution. "A draft resolution could be sent to all members of the council tomorrow," one western diplomat said. A new resolution giving strong backing to the Arab League's initiative to end the Syria crisis has been drawn up by Britain, France, Germany and a number of Arab nations. The European and Arab countries hope for a vote next week. Arab League secretary general Nabil al-Arabi and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani are to brief the council on Syria on Monday or Tuesday. The Arab League has called on President Bashar al-Assad to hand over powers to a deputy so that elections can be held in Syria where the UN says more than 5,400 people have died since protests started in March last year. Russia and China used their veto powers as permanent members of the 15-nation council to block one European resolution in October. Russia has since proposed its own resolution but there have hardly been any negotiations on the bid which Western countries have called unbalanced. "This would be the response of a number of countries to the Russian resolution and the veto in October," added the western diplomat, referring to Friday's meeting and the new draft.