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Wednesday, January 25, 2012 UN Help Sought on Syria Boston Globe - Wednesday, January 25, 2012 UN help sought on Syria crisis Arab League shifts tactics amid more violence By Liz Sly | 550 words DAMASCUS - The Arab League sought help yesterday from the United Nations to address the escalating crisis in Syria, amid Syrian defiance of Arab efforts to broker a peace settlement and an upsurge of violence in which dozens of people died. Gulf Arab countries pulled out of an Arab League monitoring mission, saying it was ineffectual, further casting into doubt the fate of an initiative aimed at ending the Syrian government's use of force to suppress a 10-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's rule. Activist groups reported the deaths of at least 38 people, most of them in the flash-point city of Homs, as the government responded to the growing international pressure by stepping up its attempts to crush the revolt. Syria's foreign minister, Walid al-Moualem, told a news conference in Damascus that Syria felt justified in escalating the use of force against protesters because a report by the Arab observer team acknowledged that some of them have taken up arms. He signaled that the crackdown would intensify, saying there could be no reforms in Syria until the revolt had been suppressed. ``It is the duty of the Syrian government to take the necessary measures to address the problem of those armed elements who are wreaking havoc throughout Syria,'' Moualem said. ``The Syrian government must quickly take the situation in hand to preserve stability.'' Activists said a renewed crackdown appeared to be already under way. In Homs, at least 25 people were killed in shelling by security forces of two neighborhoods, said Homs activist Omar Shakri, who said at least three buildings collapsed. The Local Coordination Committees said 41 people were killed in Homs and 19 elsewhere in the country, including five defected soldiers. ``They are starting a new offensive, and I think in the coming days we will see a lot of blood,'' Shakri said. Opposition groups said they feared that a fresh assault is also being prepared against the city of Hama, the focus of a brutal crackdown last summer. The Syrian Revolution General Commission said that Internet connections, landlines, and cellphone service in the city had been cut and that tanks had gathered on the edges of the town. The state news agency SANA reported that funerals were held yesterday for 14 members of the security forces and two civilians killed the previous day in attacks by ``armed terrorist groups.'' On Sunday, the Arab League cited Syria's failure to stop the violence in its presentation of a transition plan that called for Assad to step aside, warning that the League would seek UN help if he did not comply. Yesterday, Arab League secretary general Nabil Elaraby and Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jasim al-Thani wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requesting a meeting of the Security Council to address ways that it could help implement the plan. Earlier, the six nations comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates - announced the withdrawal of their observers from the Arab League's monitoring mission in Syria and urged the Security Council to take ``all needed measures'' to stop the violence, suggesting that they would be willing to countenance military intervention. US and European efforts to spur Security Council action have been blocked, however, by Russia, which remains staunchly opposed to any UN action that could open the door to international intervention in Syria. ASIA; Tibet Issue Is Ripe for Solving: [HOME EDITION] Schell, OrvilleView Profile. Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles, Calif] 27 Oct 2002: M.1. BERKELEY -- A great opportunity was lost Friday when President Bush met with Chinese President and Communist Party Chairman Jiang Zemin without taking up the situation in Tibet. China held out a tantalizing hope last month in hosting a delegation from the Dalai Lama's government in exile on a visit to China and Tibet. Now would have been the moment to advance that initiative. But it is still not too late to take up the challenge of resolving Tibet's status, a problem that has long bedeviled Tibetans and ethnic Chinese alike. In fact, Hu Jintao, who appears slated to assume leadership of China next month when Jiang steps down, was China's party secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region from 1988 to 1992. Understanding the complexities of Tibet's difficult relationship with China puts him in an excellent position to distinguish the beginning of his tenure as supreme leader of China by helping to untie this Gordian knot. If Hu fails to address issues of human rights in Tibet and the region's desire for autonomy, his country will be the worse for his lapse. In the Palestinian territories, in Kashmir, in the former Yugoslavia, we have seen how unattended conflicts with ethnic subtexts can erupt in ways that make them virtually impossible to solve. It's in China's interest not to let that happen in Tibet. When Jiang's government met last month with Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, representatives of the Dalai Lama's government in exile, it seemed to indicate a new flexibility on the part of Beijing -- a flexibility that will be necessary if China wants to resolve its long-standing differences with Tibet. On assuming office, Hu should follow up on this initial olive branch with further initiatives aimed at advancing the situation toward a truly durable solution. Fortunately, Tibet is not beyond remedy. And one can hardly imagine a better way for a Chinese leader to establish himself in office than to offer a peaceful solution. The Dalai Lama has proposed a reasonable compromise: In return for a high degree of Tibetan autonomy and permission to return home to Lhasa, his government in exile would yield to the Chinese government's claim of sovereignty and its desire to continue controlling Tibet's foreign affairs and defense. This is clearly a win-win-win proposition. China gains the Dalai Lama's acknowledgment that Tibet is in fact a part of a multiethnic China, thereby removing the contentious issue of independence from the board. Tibet wins China's agreement to allow the Dalai Lama to return home and help stem the erosion of Tibetan Buddhism and traditional culture that, with the large influx of Han Chinese, has drawn the region ever deeper into the pull of Chinese cultural and political gravity. And the world gains by being relieved of the burden of a major point of global tension. A solution to the Tibet problem would greatly improve China's global image. The situation in Tibet, which many around the world see as a form of quasi-colonial occupation, has been an ongoing stain on China's international reputation. Working out a solution that would facilitate the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet would not only help remove much of the stigma of the last half-century but would also allow the Dalai Lama to help soothe and manage the tensions that have built up over the years. While the situation may appear to have been superficially quiet of late, it is no secret that smoldering resentments remain, and that these resentments could easily lead to yet another overt conflict. Should that happen, it might then be too late for the kind of peaceful reconciliation that now offers itself as a real possibility. I have often, and only half-jokingly, noted to Chinese friends who are wary of the Tibetan government in exile that most non- Chinese world leaders would be only too happy to have the Dalai Lama as an adversary. He is, after all, renowned for his tolerance, his good sense and his compassion. Chinese officials must realize, having recently hosted a Tibetan delegation, that in the Tibetans they have an immensely reasonable partner for negotiation. Solving the Tibet problem in a peaceful, equitable and magnanimous way would provide an extraordinary beginning to Hu's tenure as China's leader. It would also be an astute way for China to continue cementing better relations with the U.S. For those of us watching around the world, a creative, new solution to this long-stalemated issue would serve as a very convincing sign that China was changing, maturing and becoming more receptive to assuming a greater role on the global stage as a constructive, reliable and forward-looking power. During this time of deep anxiety over international terrorism and ethnic strife, such an expression of Chinese leadership would go a long way to impressing and reassuring the world. Hu could leave no greater legacy. Boston Globe -January 26, 2012 Tibetan clashes in China spread 2 reported dead; others injured By Gillian Wong | 325 words BEIJING - Deadly clashes between ethnic Tibetans and Chinese security forces have spread to a second area in southwestern China, the government and an overseas activist group said yesterday. The group Free Tibet said two Tibetans were killed and several more were wounded Tuesday when security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in Seda county in politically sensitive Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan Province. It quoted local sources as saying the area was under a curfew. According to the Chinese government, a ``mob'' of people charged a police station in Seda and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them. The official Xinhua News Agency said police killed one rioter, injured another, and arrested 13. The spread of violence came after some 30 Tibetans found shelter in a monastery after being wounded when Chinese police fired into a crowd of protesters in neighboring Luhuo county, a Tibetan monk said Tuesday.
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