Obama renewed demands that Assad’s departure must be part of any solution to the 30-month old Syrian conflict in which the UN says well over 100,000 people have been killed.
The major powers are negotiating a resolution to back the Russia-US plan. Russia has been resisting western demands that Chapter VII of the UN Charter be used to give the chemical disarmament plan binding force under international law.
Russia suspects that the use of Chapter VII would be a first step to seeking approval for military force against Syria, its key ally, diplomats said.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in the hall to hear Obama’s speech and was to hold talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry later Tuesday.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on all states to stop sending weapons to Syria.
“I appeal to all states to stop fuelling the bloodshed and to end the arms flows to all parties,” Ban said as he opened the annual assembly, which is being attended by more than 130 heads of state and government.
Russia is Assad’s key arms provider while Syria accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf states of arming opposition rebels.
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff used her speech ahead of Obama to launch a blistering attack on the United States for spying on her country.
“The argument that illegal interception of information is allegedly intended to protect nations against terrorism is untenable,” Rousseff told the assembly, though Obama was not present.
“Brazil knows how to protect itself,” she added.
Rousseff cancelled a long planned state visit to the United States next month in anger at revelations leaked by fugitive former CIA employee Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency had spied on her email.
The spy revelations have “brought anger and repudiation among vast sectors worldwide,” Rousseff said.
Obama insisted that while the United States was now reviewing its intelligence gathering, it had proved invaluable in the fight against terrorism.
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