Russia, China veto UN resolution demanding Aleppo truce

Smoke rises following a Syrian government air strike on rebel positions, in eastern Aleppo, Syria on December 5, 2016. The fighting was most intense Monday near the dividing line between east and west Aleppo as government and allied troops push their way from the eastern flank, reaching within less than a kilometre from the citadel that anchors the center of the city. Hassan Ammar/AP PhotoShow less

UNITED NATIONS // Russia and China on Monday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a seven-day humanitarian truce in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, leading the US representative to accuse them of issuing a “death sentence” for innocent Syrians.

It was Russia’s sixth veto and China’s fifth of resolutions on the civil war in Syria, now in its sixth year.

Venezuela also voted against the text, while Angola abstained. The 11 other member nations on the council cast their votes for the text.

Moscow, a close ally of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, had expressed strong reservations about the text, which was the subject of weeks of negotiations.

In an eleventh-hour effort, Russia tried to postpone the vote until at least Tuesday, when a meeting was set to take place in Geneva between the Americans and the Russians.

But Paris, London and Washington – the main backers of the text – decided to go ahead anyway.

The resolution, sponsored by New Zealand, Egypt and Spain, sought to allow for the removal of the sick and wounded and to provide humanitarian aid workers enough time to get food aid and medicine into the besieged city.

US deputy ambassador Michele Sison called the vetoes “a death sentence for innocent men, women and children”.

“Let me tell you what Russia and China have vetoed today in blocking this resolution and allowing the bombardment of eastern Aleppo to continue. They have vetoed the delivery of basic medicine to people who will die without it. They have vetoed the evacuation of sick and dying people who have no chance of surviving in the bombed out hospitals and clinics of eastern Aleppo. They vetoed the delivery of food to civilians who could starve to death,” Ms Sison said. “They have vetoed the lives of innocent Syrians.”

Before the vote, Ms Sison traded barbs with the Russian representative over who was to blame for the resolution’s failure.

“We will not let Russia string along the Security Council,” she added.

“We will continue bilateral negotiations [with Russia] to relieve the suffering in Aleppo, but we have not reached a breakthrough because Russia wants to keep its military gains.”

Russia says the Geneva talks concern a plan for all rebel fighters to withdraw from eastern Aleppo, under siege by the regime. But the rebels have rejected the plan.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press