France and Germany will go ahead with a Syria resolution at the UN Security Council, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday.
“We – France and Germany – want a resolution to be adopted on Mr. [President Bashar] Assad’s actions against the Syrian people,” Merkel said at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin.
Asked about Russia’s position at the Security Council, Merkel said German and French representatives would discuss the situation with their Russian counterparts.
“The use of violence against the people is unacceptable and this is why we will talk with Russia to achieve success,” she said.
Sarkozy said France and Germany had agreed to push for tougher sanctions against Syria.
“France, hand-in-hand with Germany, calls for tougher sanctions against Syrian authorities who are conducting intolerable and unacceptable actions and repression against the population,” he said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday his country would put a Syrian resolution to a vote at the UN Security Council after it enlisted the support of India, South Africa and Brazil.
“As of now we have nine votes. We need to convince South Africa, India and Brazil,” he said as the 15-nation Security Council reached a deadlock.
He offered no indication of when the draft could be put to the vote, saying that Britain and the United States were working along the same lines.
Brazil, India and South Africa have voiced reservations about the resolution drafted by Britain, France, Germany and Portugal.
Syrian rights organizations have estimated that some 1,300 people have been killed and more than 10,000 arrested in Syria since protests demanding the end of President Bashar al-Assad’s authoritarian rule broke out in the country in mid-March. Foreign journalists are banned from entering the country which makes it difficult to verify the figures.