シリア情勢 停戦を順守させ流血止めよ

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jun. 4, 2012)
Intl community must make Syria stop bloodshed
シリア情勢　停戦を順守させ流血止めよ（6月3日付・読売社説）

The U.N. Security Council must prevent further tragedies of bloodshed in Syria.
　国連安全保障理事会はシリアにおける流血の惨事を繰り返させてはならない。

A string of massacres Friday and Saturday in the central Syrian town of Houla has pushed former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's ceasefire arbitration plans to the brink of collapse.
中部ホウラでの虐殺事件が、アナン前国連事務総長の停戦調停案を崩壊寸前に追いやっている。

Failure of the plans could plunge Syria into civil war, which in turn could destabilize the entire Middle East. The situation remains extremely tense.
　調停が失敗すれば、シリアは内戦状態に陥り、中東全体が不安定になる恐れが強い。事態は極めて緊迫している。

Under the circumstances, the Security Council must waste no time in taking such steps as beefing up the U.N. mission monitoring the ceasefire in Syria. It also must increase pressure on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad to do its best to implement Annan's peace plans.
　安保理は直ちに、国連シリア停戦監視団の機能強化などを図り、アサド政権へ圧力を強め、調停案の履行に全力をあげるべきだ。

In Houla, where government forces carried out artillery attacks, more than 100 bodies--including those of many children--were found.
　政府軍が砲撃したホウラでは、多数の子供を含む１００以上の遺体が見つかった。

Members of the U.N. monitoring mission who rushed to Houla confirmed that many of the bodies showed the victims had been subject to atrocities such as being gunned down or stabbed to death.
現地を訪れた国連停戦監視団は、多くの遺体に撃たれたり刺されたりした残虐行為があることを確認した。

Anti-Assad dissidents say the massacre was the work of government militiamen, but the truth of the incident remains unknown.
　反体制派は、政府側民兵の仕業と見るが、真相は不明だ。

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Unarmed monitors ineffective

Ever since antigovernment demonstrations began in Syria in March 2011, there has been increasing bloodshed due to a crackdown on dissidents by government forces and clashes with rebels. As a result, fatalities in the violence have surpassed 10,000, according to the United Nations.
　昨年３月、シリアで反政府デモが始まって以来、政府側の武力弾圧や反体制勢力との衝突で流血は拡大の一途をたどり、国連によると、死者は１万人を超えた。

The Syrian government once accepted peace arbitration plans that Annan, a joint special envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League, worked out in March. It is highly regrettable that Damascus has effectively trashed the plans.
　国連とアラブ連盟の共同特使であるアナン氏が今年３月に示した調停案を、シリア政府もいったん受けいれたはずだ。その後、反古(ほご)同然にしたのは遺憾である。

The U.N. mission of fewer than 300 unarmed observers can hardly act effectively considering the situation.
　だが、３００人足らずの丸腰の監視団では機能を果たせない。

The United Nations should urgently address the task of realizing measures to bolster the U.N. mission, based on proposals made by such countries as the United States and Britain to provide Syrian antigovernment forces with aircraft and dispatch armed monitors.
航空機供与や武装警護団派遣など、米国や英国の提案を軸に、監視団強化の具体化を急ぐべきだ。

Armed anti-Assad groups have declared they would take unrestrained military actions if the ceasefire accord is broken. Such a worst-case scenario must be averted by all means.
　反体制派の武装組織は、停戦合意が崩れれば自由に軍事行動を取ると宣言している。そうした最悪の事態は回避せねばならない。

In the Security Council, the United States and European countries have been seeking measures such as economic sanctions to force President Assad to step down, bringing them into conflict with Russia and China, which oppose such actions.
　安保理では、アサド大統領の退陣や経済制裁を求める欧米と、これに反対するロシア、中国が対立している。

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Russia behind suppression

The opposition put up by Russia, in particular, has been hampering enforcement of anti-Syria sanctions.
　特にロシアの抵抗が、対シリア制裁を妨げてきた。

Syria is an important importer of weapons from Russia, and Damascus provides the Russian Navy with supply bases.
背景には、シリアがロシアにとって重要な武器輸出先であり、露海軍に補給拠点も提供していることがある。

In a Russian-French summit meeting on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in response to French President Francois Hollande's argument in favor of anti-Syria sanctions, insisted sanctions "could not work," and there were no signs the differences of views could be narrowed.
　１日の仏露首脳会談でも、対シリア制裁を主張するオランド仏大統領に対して、プーチン露大統領が「制裁は効果的ではない」と反論し、溝は埋まらなかった。

Given that Russia has long backed the Assad regime, it has a responsibility to firmly press Damascus to bring the bloodshed to an end.
　アサド政権を支えてきたロシアには、流血停止をシリアに強く働きかける責任がある。

The United States and European countries have been imposing economic sanctions on Syria on their own.
　欧米諸国は、シリアに対して独自の経済制裁を科している。

In the wake of the Houla massacre, they have asked Syrian ambassadors and others to leave. Following suit, Japan has also asked the Syrian ambassador to leave.
ホウラ事件後、シリア大使らに国外退去を求め、日本も同調した。

The Assad regime, whose main power base is the minority Alawis Muslim community, has ruled for years by relentlessly oppressing the people.
　少数派のイスラム教アラウィ派を権力基盤とするアサド政権は、国民を抑圧し続けてきた。

The intensified suppression has shaken the legitimacy of the Assad regime even more, leaving no alternative but deeper international isolation.
弾圧強化で統治の正統性は一層揺らぎ、孤立を深めるばかりだ。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 3, 2012)
（2012年6月3日01時42分 読売新聞）