Speak up on Russia, U.N. urged

Syrian National Coalition President Khaled Khoja, left, is joined by Syrian National Coalition Special Representative to Lebanon Alia Monsour as he speaks to reporters during a news conference Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015 at U.N. headquarters.
Syrian National Coalition President Khaled Khoja, left, is joined by Syrian National Coalition Special Representative to Lebanon Alia Monsour as he speaks to reporters during a news conference Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015 at U.N. headquarters.

UNITED NATIONS -- The Western-backed Syrian National Coalition opposition group said its leader met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and urged him to speak out against Russian airstrikes, as a U.N. gathering of world leaders neared its end Saturday.

A coalition statement said Khaled Khoja met with Ban on Friday as the world hurried to react to Russia's new military moves in Syria last week.

The U.N. chief's stance "must be stronger and must condemn the over 50 innocent civilian casualties of the Russian airstrikes," the statement said.

The U.N. did not publish a meeting summary, as it does for Ban's meetings. On Saturday morning, a spokesman for Ban said one would not be issued.

Russia has dismissed accusations that its airstrikes have killed civilians and said it is targeting only the Islamic State and similar groups, not the opposition. Syrian and Russian military officials said Saturday that a new wave of Russian airstrikes attacked the Islamic State and other insurgents in central and northern Syria.

The Syrian National Coalition statement said Friday's discussion with the U.N. secretary-general was "constructive and frank," and Khoja warned Ban that Syrians "were losing faith in the U.N., and needed the U.N. to stand beside them."

The U.N. chief has spoken repeatedly of his "shame" that Syria's grinding conflict has not been resolved and his frustration with the deep divide in the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body. Russia and China support the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while the United States, Britain and France demand his ouster in a transition process.

Ban kicked off the annual U.N. General Assembly of world leaders Monday by calling for the first time for Syria's situation to be referred to the International Criminal Court. But because that requires approval by the council, where Russia and China have vetoed several proposals on Syria during its civil war, Ban's call likely will go nowhere.

Also Saturday, the final speakers to the General Assembly included Hungary, which continued its strong stance against the flood of foreigners into Europe; and Oman, which warned that the violence in Yemen is giving several extremist groups a base of operations.

Hungary's foreign minister is warning that Europe can be destabilized, first on its peripheries and then even at its center, if countries can't get control of their borders and decrease the influx of migrants.

Peter Szijjarto told the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting that "this is a mass migration with an unlimited source of supply of people, and if we cannot stop the influx shortly, than this challenge will stay with us for a long time."

He stressed that this is a global problem and outlined a five-point plan to tackle it: step up international efforts against the Islamic State, stabilize the Mideast and North Africa, create world quotas for the relocation of migrants, strengthen U.N. peacekeeping missions, and fully implement the 17 new U.N. development goals.

Canada is pledging to accelerate the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees but is not pledging to take more in, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Jean said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government said last month that it will issue thousands more visas to Syrian refugees before the end of this year by accelerating the processing of applications.

Canada said it will take in 10,000 refugees by September 2016, 15 months ahead of schedule, but it declined to resettle more.

Also, Yousef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman's foreign minister, said at the meeting that the nuclear agreement between Iran and six major powers is a model of using dialogue and negotiations to solve controversial and complicated issues between countries.

A Section on 10/04/2015

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