Obama, Medvedev meet on Syria, Iran
S Korea: US President Barack Obama said he and Russian
counterpart Dmitry Medvedev agreed Monday to support diplomatic efforts
to end the bloodshed in Syria and ensure a "legitimate" government
there.
Syria was one of the top priority issues discussed during a 90-minute
meeting between the two leaders in South Korea ahead of a nuclear
summit, their final direct talks before Medvedev steps down and makes
way for Vladimir Putin.
Obama acknowledged in comments to reporters after the talks that
there had been disagreements over the past few months between the United
States and Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
But he said both agreed "we should be supportive of Kofi Annan's
efforts to end some of the bloodshed that is taking place in Syria", and
that the goal was to have a "legitimate" government in Damascus.
Russia and China last week backed a UN Security Council peace plan
for Syria put forward by Annan, the UN-Arab League's envoy.
Annan's plan calls for a halt to fighting, with the government
pulling troops and heavy weapons out of protest cities, a daily two-hour
humanitarian pause to hostilities and access to all areas affected by
the fighting.
It also calls for the release of people detained over the past year
of the uprising against Assad in which the UN says well over 8,000
people have been killed.
Before flying to Seoul, Medvedev warned that Annan represented the
last chance for avoiding a civil war in Syria.
Obama said he and Medvedev also discussed Iran's nuclear programme,
with both expressing support for diplomatic efforts to end the impasse
by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
"We agreed that P5 plus one talks with Iran should be announced
soon," Obama said.
"(The talks will) offer us an opportunity to talk diplomatically (on)
the critical issue of ensuring Iran is abiding by its international
obligations that will allow them to rejoin the community of nations," he
said.
The United States and much of the West believe Iran's nuclear
programme is geared towards obtaining a weapon.
Iran says its programme is for civil power generation and medical
purposes only.
AFP |