Yemen's Karman slams Russia, China over Syria vote

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Yemeni activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkul Karman says Russia and China bear moral responsibility for killings in Syria and is urging governments to expel Syrian ambassadors.

Karman spoke at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of security officials, on Sunday — a day after Moscow and Beijing vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at ending Syria's bloodshed.

Their vote came amid international outrage over a devastating bombardment of the city of Homs by President Bashar Assad's forces.

Karman says "those two countries bear the moral and human responsibility for these massacres."

She urged governments to expel Syrian ambassadors and withdraw their own ambassadors from Damascus, saying "that is the minimum you can do to punish this regime."