United Nations, – Nigeria and 132 other member-states of the UN General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution urging its Security Council to act decisively on the situation in Syria .
The UN resolution, presented by the Arab Group, was adopted by a vote of 133 in favour to 12 against with 31 abstentions.
Among those that voted against the resolution were Russia and China who were also permanent members of the UN Security Council.
It came two weeks after the UN Security Council failed to agree on collective action to stop the bloodshed.
The resolution condemned the increasing use of heavy weapons, including indiscriminate shelling from tanks and helicopters by the Syrian authorities, in population centres.
It also flayed the Syrian government's failure to withdraw its troops and the heavy weapons to their barracks.
The 193-member body also condemned all violence, "irrespective of where it comes from," and demanded that all parties implement the relevant Security Council resolutions to achieve a cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also expressed regret over the divisions that have paralysed resolve for collective action in the Security Council.
He said that the immediate interests of the Syrian people must be paramount over any larger rivalries of influence.
"The conflict in Syria is a test of everything this organisation stands for. I do not want today's United Nations to fail that test," he told the meeting.
Ban warned that despite repeated verbal acceptances of the six-point plan presented by the Joint Special Envoy for the UN and the League of Arab States for the Syrian Crisis, Kofi Annan, both the government and the opposition continued to rely on weapons, not diplomacy, in the belief that they would win through violence.
He stressed that united international pressure could make a difference.
"All of us have a responsibility to the people of Syria.
"We must use all of the peaceful means in the UN Charter to help them unite around a Syrian-led transition process that is based on dialogue and compromise, not bullets and arrests," the UN scribe further stated.
He stated that the primary responsibility for stopping the violence rests with those on the ground, particularly the government.
"But their refusal to lay down arms does not absolve the rest of us of the need to act.
"I urge all members of this Assembly to face up to the collective responsibilities we shoulder," he said.
The Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser said the council had again been unable to unite and take collective action to put an end to the crisis.
He said the deadlock in the Council "sends the wrong signals to all parties in the Syrian conflict."
"Given that the six-point plan is not being implemented and that the violence is increasing, Member -States have no choice but to take the necessary credible action.
"The credibility of the United Nations is at stake, regional stability in the Middle East is at stake. The lives of thousands of innocent people depend on our response," Al-Nasser said.
Dr Kofi Annan had on Thursday resigned his appointment as the Joint Special Envoy on Syria which observers believed was due to the inability of the global body to adopt lasting solution against the violence. (NAN)
Vanguard Nigeria