Brazil Seeks End to International Arms Flow into Syria
Brazil on Monday called on the U.N. Security Council to order an immediate end to the international arms flow into Syria.
"It is urgent to immediately stop the flow of arms from the outside, which supplies all sides in the conflict," Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo said.
"This arms inflow aggravates the humanitarian tragedy," he told a news conference.
"Undoubtedly we would like the Security Council to agree on ending this arms flow," he added.
Figueiredo restated Brasilia's support for the weekend deal reached by Washington and Moscow to destroy Syria's chemical arms arsenal.
"The use of chemical weapons is a dreadful and inadmissible act," Brazil's chief diplomat said.
He also pointed to a major increase in conventional arms which has worsened the "humanitarian tragedy and generated even more deaths, more refugees."
Brazil opposes any international military intervention in Syria unless it is authorized by the 15-member U.N. Security Council, in which Russia, a Damascus ally, has veto power.
"There is no military solution to the Syria conflict (...) It is time to invest in diplomacy to seek a durable peace," Figueiredo said.
Describing Syria as a "fundamental issue" for Brazil, a country with a sizable ethnic Syrian population, he called for the convening of a new international conference as soon as possible.
Source: Agence France Presse
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