U.N.: Syria Death Toll Reached 2200, Assad Hasn't Kept His Word
The U.N. rights body held an emergency meeting on Monday to press Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end a deadly crackdown on dissent, a day after he scoffed at Western calls to quit.
More than 2,200 people have died in the Syrian regime's crackdown, U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay told the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva that was expected to condemn the bloodshed.
"The gravity of on-going violations and the brutal attacks against the peaceful protesters in that country demand your continued attention," she said.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon also piled up the pressure on Monday saying that Assad had failed to keep promises, including one he made during a telephone conversation last week to halt the military crackdown.
"It is troubling that he has not kept his word," Ban told reporters. "Many world leaders have been speaking to him to halt immediately military operations, killing his own people. He should do that."
Assad on Sunday night rejected calls by U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders to step down.
The U.N. Human Rights Council met to consider a draft resolution deploring the "indiscriminate attacks" on Syrian demonstrators and seeking an end to the violence, a copy said.
The text seen by Agence France Presse also underscores the need to send independent investigators to probe the government's crackdown on protesters.
"As of today, over 2,200 people have been killed since mass protests began in mid-March, with more than 350 people reportedly killed across Syria since the beginning of Ramadan," on August 1, said Pillay.
The U.N. had previously estimated a death toll of 2,000.
There was more bloodshed on Monday as five people were killed, including three shot dead by security forces who opened fire on protesters at a rally in Homs as a U.N. fact-finding team visited the central Syrian city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which reported the killings said several people were also wounded in Homs.
The crowds took to the streets when they heard the U.N. mission was in town, Observatory chief Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP by telephone, apparently to make their voices heard.
"Three people were killed and several wounded when some shabbiha (pro-regime militiamen) and members of the security forces opened fire," he said. Before dawn on Monday, two other people were killed in Hama, also central Syria.
The mission, which arrived Saturday for a five-day visit, began its work the next day in Damascus to assess humanitarian needs, officials said, and while the team was in the suburb of Douma protesters rallied against Assad.
Despite global pressure mounting against his regime, Assad told state television late Sunday he would not heed global demands to quit power.
"While withholding comment, we tell them that their words are worthless," Assad said.
"Such remarks should not be made about a president who was chosen by the Syrian people and who was not put in office by the West, a president who was not made in the United States."
Assad, who has insisted his forces are battling "armed gangs" determined to sow chaos in his country, said "successes on the security front" had been made to allow for political reforms to go ahead.
"The situation is now more reassuring," he said, adding however: "A political solution cannot be put in place if security is not preserved."
Assad said local elections would be held in December, to be followed by parliamentary polls in February after a new law on political parties comes into effect this week.
Source: Agence France Presse
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