U.N. Security Council delays vote on Syria ceasefire resolution

UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT, (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council yesterday delayed a vote on a demand for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, where pro-government warplanes have been pounding the last rebel bastion near Damascus in one of the deadliest bombing campaigns of the seven-year civil war.

A draft resolution aimed at ending the carnage in the eastern Ghouta district and elsewhere in Syria will be put up for a vote in the 15-member council at noon (1700 GMT) today, Kuwait’s U.N. Ambassador Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi said.

Al-Otaibi said negotiations were centered on the language of one paragraph that specifically demands a cessation of hostilities for 30 days, possibly starting 72 hours after adoption, to allow aid access and medical evacuations.

“We have not been able to close the gap completely,” Olof Skoog, Sweden’s U.N. ambassador, told reporters. “We’re not going to give up . ... I hope that we will adopt something forceful, meaningful, impactful tomorrow.”

The delay followed a flurry of lastminute negotiations on the text drafted by Sweden and Kuwait after Russia, a veto-holding ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, proposed new amendments.

“Unbelievable that Russia is stalling a vote on a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access in Syria,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley posted on Twitter.

Previous ceasefires, however, have had a poor record of ending fighting in Syria, where Assad’s forces have gained the upper hand.

The towns and farms of eastern Ghouta have been under government siege since 2013, with shortages of food, water and electricity that worsened last year.

Earlier on Friday, the densely populated enclave was bombed for a sixth straight day, witnesses said.