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| The UN security council is holding its informal meeting in Backakra in Sweden (AFP Photo/Johan NILSSON) |
Backåkra (Sweden) (AFP) - The UN Security Council met in a secluded farmhouse on the southern tip of Sweden on Saturday in a bid to overcome deep divisions over how to end the war in Syria.
In a first
for the Security Council, which normally holds its annual brainstorming session
in upstate New York, the 15 ambassadors and UN Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres were this year invited to hold an informal meeting in Backakra by
Sweden, a non-permanent member of the body.
The United
Nations' special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is expected on Sunday.
"We
still face a very serious divide on that (Syria) matter," Guterres said as
he arrived along with the ambassadors.
"We
really need to find a way in relation to the violation of international law
that the use of chemical weapons represents," he added.
The
farmhouse is the summer residence of Dag Hammarskjold, the United Nations'
second secretary-general who died in a plane crash in Africa in 1961.
Situated in
the heart of a nature reserve, just a stone's throw from the Baltic Sea, the
farmhouse consists of four buildings around a courtyard and has been completely
renovated in recent years.
The
southern wing serves as the summer residence for the Swedish Academy which
awards the Nobel Literature Prize.
With both
New York and Damascus thousands of kilometres away, the council is exploring
"the means to strengthen and make more effective United Nations
peacekeeping missions," the Swedish government said.
Swedish
Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom welcomed the decision to hold the meeting in
Sweden, "where there is a long tradition of peaceful conflict prevention
and resolution".
But she
warned against being too hopeful the Syrian issue would be resolved over the
weekend.
"Hopefully
there will be some new ideas on the table and I think it’ll be on those tracks:
the humanitarian situation, the chemical weapons," she said.
But
"not even the beautiful settings like these can solve all the
problems", the minister added.
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United
States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (L) and Sweden's
Foreign
Minister Margot Wallstrom are in Backakra (AFP Photo/Johan NILSSON)
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Nikki
Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said on the Syria issue: "We're not
having that much success, we're still deadlocked.
"Retreats
like this are very important -- to get away from New York sometimes and discuss
these things in a way that we can really try and find a solution."
British
ambassador Karen Pierce said: "We are determined to try and find a
workable solution, so we will keep doing that with our Russian
colleagues."
While the
war in Syria is not the only topic of the deliberations, it is high up on the
agenda because it was an issue that divided council members deeply in recent
months.
Skau said
Backakra was a "fitting and inspiring venue" to reconnect with the
power of diplomacy.
"It's
a place to roll up our sleeves, take off our jackets and ties and come up with
some real and meaningful ways forward," he said.
'No
excessive hopes'
Air strikes
by the US, UK and France on April 14 targeted three sites, which the countries
argued were used by the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad for a chemical weapons
programme.
Syria has
been accused of using chemical weapons in an attack a week earlier in Douma,
the last rebel stronghold near Damascus.
Assad and
Russian allies have denied that Syria was responsible for the attack, which
according to rescuers, left more than 40 people dead. But the Western powers
insist that the Syrian regime had crossed a red line.
The air
strikes, conducted without a Security Council resolution, have led to fierce
tensions between Russia and the other permanent council members, the US,
France, Britain and China.
Moscow has
used its veto on the council 12 times since 2011.
A
fact-finding mission from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) to the Syrian town of Douma has finally arrived at the site of
the alleged chemical attack, Russia's foreign ministry said.
Some
non-permanent member countries of the council have been critical of the trip to
Sweden.
With the
conflicts the council has on its table, including the one in Syria, it is
abnormal that the council would travel so far, said one ambassador, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
"What
will happen if something bad happens?" the ambassador asked.
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