Primer Ministro de Antigua y Barbuda rechazará en la Asamblea de la ONU un ataque a Siria

PM to make case for peaceful intervention in Syria

At his address at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, where the Syrian conflict is expected to be on the agenda, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer will support a peaceful solution, rather than military intervention by the United States.

“We believe that there is a role of the United Nations in trying to bring peace and sanity to the situation there and that is how we are looking at it,” Spencer said.

“We must utilise the medium, the organs, the mechanisms that were put in place to resolve international conflict and to that extent, we are hoping that that will be the approach that will bring about peace in Syria.”

The prime minister told OBSERVER media Antigua & Barbuda’s position on the Syrian conflict will be in line with that of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

“Clearly, the utilisation of chemical weapons under any circumstances must be condemned. What we are saying, however, there has to be a more peaceful and political way to deal with those issues rather than a military intervention,” PM Spencer said.

Last week, Caricom condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria as a “gross contravention” of international law. However, the regional body also opposed the intervention by, what it called, “a warring policeman with arbitrary powers.

“What if you get it wrong as in the case of Iraq not very long ago, in which there was supposed to be weapons of mass destruction which were nonexistent?” a statement from Caricom read.

The US alleges that Syria’s Bashar al-Assad-led government forces carried out a chemical weapons attack in Damascus on August 21, killing 1,429 people. President Obama has since called on Congress to approve US military intervention in Syria.

Incidentally, Antigua & Barbuda’s ambassador to the United Nations, John William Ashe, was elected president of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly.

The general debate of the 68th session is scheduled to begin Tuesday, September 24.

http://www.antiguaobserver.com/pm-to-make-case-for-peaceful-intervention-in-syria/