Russia circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution on
Thursday calling for a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire between
Israel and Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
The draft calls for "an immediate and full cessation of
hostilities for humanitarian purposes for a period of 72
hours."
It also expresses "gravest concern over the increasing
escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and Israel" since the conflict
broke out on July 12.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the
conflict in the region has only got intensified, further worsening
the humanitarian situation, while diplomatic efforts dragged on for
days without achieving anything significant.
"Unfortunately we at this point came to the conclusion that we
do not have an immediate prospect of this resolution being
accepted," Churkin said, referring to a US-French draft currently
in dispute.
The proposal has won the support of UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan who has repeated calls for a cessation of hostilities since
the conflict began in mid-July, said Churkin, adding that he
expects a vote on Friday evening so that council members would have
time to consult their governments.
Consecutive talks aimed at ending the conflict have faltered
since Lebanon objected to the draft resolution cosponsored by
France and the United States, which calls for a complete end to the
Israel-Hezbollah hostilities but make no mention of such key issues
as those concerning Israel's withdrawal and the swap of prisoners
between the two sides.
The UN ambassadors of the United States and France continued
their talks Thursday over the wording of the US-French draft in an
effort to incorporate the demands of the Arab nations.
Despite some progress reported on the draft, differences
remained and both sides refrained from disclosing when a deal would
be reached.
US Ambassador John Bolton acknowledged that there had been no
agreement but still insisted that a vote was possible on
Friday.
"We have not yet reached agreement but will continue to work
onit and will continue to work on it this evening and meet again
early tomorrow morning," Bolton said after talks with his French
counterpart, Jean-Marc de La Sabliere.
"We're making progress and it's entirely possible we could have
a vote tomorrow," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2006)
