Pope renews appeal for end to violence in Syria

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics Monday, July 30th, 2012

CATHOLIC head, Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for an end to violence in Syria and called on world powers to spare no effort in helping resolve the conflict.

“I am following the tragic and growing episodes of violence in Syria with the sad sequence of deaths and injuries, also among civilians,” the pope said after his weekly Angelus blessing.

“I renew an urgent appeal for the end of all violence and bloodshed.”

Speaking at his summer retreat of Castel Gandolfo, he called on Syria’s neighbours to help refugees fleeing the violence and to guarantee they receive all necessary humanitarian assistance.

He said world powers must do all they can to restore peace through dialogue to reach a political solution to the conflict. The Syrian regime accused regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey of trying to destroy the country and yesterday vowed that it would defeat rebels who had captured large swathes of the commercial hub Aleppo.

French President Francois Hollande over the weekend, called on Russia and China to consider the chaos he said would ensue should the UN Security Council be unable to act on Syria soon.

Hollande called on the two Security Council members to “take into consideration … that it will be chaos and civil war if at some moment (Syrian President) Bashar Assad isn’t stopped.”

Russia and China have vetoed the Council’s efforts to ramp up pressure on Assad.

Hollande – speaking in an interview aired on the iTele TV news station on Saturday – called for the UN to move “as quickly as possible” over the degenerating situation in the country, and said Assad “will use force to the end.”

The government of Assad yesterday declared victory in a hard-fought battle for Syria’s capital Damascus, and pounded rebels who control of parts of its largest city Aleppo.

via Guardianwp_posts