euronews
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has told EU foreign ministers to
do all they can to bring about an end to the conflict in Syria.
Speaking after a meeting with the 27 countries’ top diplomats,
Brahimi said Syria would risk a long-drawn civil war without a solution
soon.
“As I’ve said several times, the Syrian crisis has to be solved
through a political compromise, as the situation resembles closely — and
perhaps even more than — to that of Somalia a few years ago,” he told
reporters in Brussels.
As Brahimi left the meeting, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius
said that the European Union needs to review its decision to impose a
weapons embargo on the Syrian opposition.
“This question of an (arms) embargo which was raised a few weeks ago
has to be raised again quickly, as we cannot allow this imbalance
(between the two sides) which is leading to the massacre of an entire
people,” Fabius said.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton stressed that any
resolution of the Syrian crisis should be based on a political solution.
“It is a terrible terrible situation and it’s of enormous concern to
everybody not only at this EU foreign affairs council, but I think to
every country across the world to try and find a way through this, but
in the end I think it’s going to have to be a political solution,” she
said.
The UN estimates that as many as 70,000 people have died in the conflict over the past two years.