Pretoria - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has voiced deep regret after Security Council members were unable to agree on a resolution backing an Arab League plan to resolve the crisis in Syria.
Thousands of people have been killed over the past year since authorities cracked down on a pro-democracy uprising.
"This is a great disappointment to the people of Syria and the Middle East, and to all supporters of democracy and human rights," he said in a statement issued by his spokesperson.
"It undermines the role of the United Nations and the international community in this period when the Syrian authorities must hear a unified voice calling for an immediate end to its violence against the Syrian people."
Ban said that in the wake of the vote, it has "become even more urgent" for the international community to redouble its efforts to seek a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system."
He pledged the UN's willingness to step up efforts to "find a peaceful and durable solution which will bring the violence and the killing in Syria to a halt".
Thirteen of the Council's 15 members voted in favour of a draft text submitted by Morocco, but China and Russia exercised their vetoes. A veto by any one of the Council's five permanent members means a resolution cannot be adopted.
South Africa was one of the countries who voted in favor of this draft resolution.
Pretoria said it believed that it had the potential to help facilitate a Syrian-led political dialogue between the Syrian parties and bring long term peace and stability to that country in accordance with the aspirations of the Syrian people
"It is important that the Syrian people be allowed to decide their own fate, including their future leadership. Fundamentally, no foreign or external parties should interfere in Syria as they engage in the critical decision making processes of their country. Any solution must preserve the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria," South Africa's Ambassador Baso Sangqu told the Council.
The draft resolution backed the Arab League plan of 22 January to try to resolve the crisis in Syria, which began in March last year after widespread public protests began in the Middle East country. UN human rights officials have said more than 5 000 people have been killed.
The protests were part of the broader Arab Spring movement that engulfed the Middle East and North Africa and led to the toppling of long-standing regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
The Arab League plan, as outlined in the draft, called for "a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States' auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States".
The resolution also called on the Syrian government to cease violence against civilians, withdraw its armed forces from cities and towns and return them to their barracks, guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations and allow unhindered access for all Arab League institutions to "determine the truth about the situation on the ground and monitor the incidents taking place".
The text condemned "all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and in this regard demands that all parties in Syria, including armed groups, immediately stop all violence or reprisals, including attacks against State institutions".
