UNITED NATIONS: US President Barack Obama demanded yesterday the United Nations take tough action against Syria, as Russia wrangled with the West over how to strip Bashar Al Assad of his chemical arsenal.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon opened the United Nations General Assembly leaders’ debate by calling on outside powers not to fuel the conflict, but Obama warned he remains ready to use force in Syria and the wider Middle East.
The annual summit of world powers came as Moscow signalled it may allow a US-Russian plan to collect and destroy Assad’s poison gas arsenal to be enshrined in international law.
But Russia remains strongly opposed to allowing the Security Council to bolster such a resolution by permitting member states to use sanctions or force to enforce the deal.
In his own UN speech, Obama warned the United States was ready to defend its interests in the Middle East, by ensuring oil supplies and eradicating weapons of mass destruction.“The United States of America is prepared to use all elements of our power, including military force, to secure these core interests in the region,” he told world leaders. And he insisted that the world’s credibility was at stake after Assad’s alleged use of chemical weapons on his own people.AFP
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