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Obama and other G-8 leaders focus on eurozone crisis
On Syria, Obama said the group supports a United Nations cease-fire plan that has yet to be honored in full. He said a statement to be issued at the close of the G-8 summit will reflect that support for the plan brokered by envoy Kofi Annan, but also say that the plan has not taken hold fast enough.
Most of the leaders are part of overlapping international coalitions formed to address the Iranian nuclear problem and the newer crisis in Syria, where an estimated 9,000 people have died in more than a year of violence that arose from the pro-democracy Arab uprisings.
Faced with implacable Russian opposition to significant new United Nations punishments on the Syrian regime, U.S. officials are trying to get consensus among other allies about ways to promote the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ouster.
“We all believe that a peaceful resolution and political transition in Syria is preferable,” Obama said Saturday.
A senior U.S. official said one goal of the closed-door discussions at Camp David was to impress on Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that other nations that share Russia’s usual role at the forefront of international diplomacy are seeking ways to address the Syria debacle without Russian help.
Later Saturday the leaders were returning to foreign affairs topics with discussion of Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Obama established the tone for the G-8 on Friday after meeting with just-elected French President Francois Hollande, when he said the aim of the summit was to promote both fiscal consolidation and a “strong growth agenda.”
