U.N. to consider call for Assad to step down

United Nations (CNN) -- The U.N. Security Council will take up a draft resolution this week that calls on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and transfer power.

The move follows news that the Arab League suspended a mission to monitor whether al-Assad was abiding by an agreement to end a brutal crackdown against anti-government protesters.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby arrived Monday in New York, where he was scheduled to deliver the monitoring mission's findings to the Security Council the following day.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Syrian authorities have agreed to informal talks in Moscow with opposition representatives aimed at resolving the crisis in the country.

more:http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/30/world/meast/syria-unrest/?hpt=hp_t3

Russia seeks to slow U.N. pace on Syria action
MOSCOW | Mon Jan 30, 2012 5:54am EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Monday sought to avert a swift U.N. Security Council vote on a Western-Arab resolution on Syria and said it wanted to study recommendations from Arab observers before discussing a plan that calls for President Bashar al-Assad to cede power.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov spoke a day before Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby was to brief Security Council members to seek support for the Arab League plan to end 10 months of bloodshed in which more than 5,000 people have been killed.

Western powers Britain and France want the Security Council to vote next week on a draft resolution supporting the Arab League plan's call for Assad to step down. Elaraby has said he hopes to overcome resistance from Beijing and Moscow.

But Gatilov said recommendations from Arab monitors in Syria, led by Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, should be presented to council members including Russia, which he said had not been informed of the mission's findings.

more:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/us-syria-russia-idUSTRE80T0KM20120130

Syria opposition member says no talks with government
CAIRO | Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:17am EST

CAIRO (Reuters) - A senior member of the Syrian opposition said Monday that the Syrian National Council had not received any formal invitation to attend talks with Syria's authorities in Russia, and would decline if one arrived.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the Syrian authorities had agreed to talks in Russia, and that it hoped the opposition would agree.

"We have not received any offer like that officially and I think, if such an offer exists, it will be no more than an attempt to influence the (U.N.) Security Council. But I say clearly that our position has not changed and it is that there is no dialogue with (President Bashar al-Assad)," Abdel Baset Seda, a member of the Syrian council's executive committee, told Reuters.

more:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/us-syria-russia-opposition-idUSTRE80T0U220120130