Ban Says Annan Set to Return to Syria 'Very Soon' after West Toned Down Statement
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
U.N.-Arab League special envoy on Syria Kofi Annan is set to return to Damascus "very soon,” United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday.
His announcement came a day after Western powers agreed to change a proposed U.N. Security Council statement on Syria after Russia refused to back any "ultimatum" to President Bashar Assad.
The proposed statement aims to reinforce international backing for Annan's efforts to halt the worsening bloodshed in Syria that the U.N. says has left well over 8,000 dead.
"Mr. Annan briefed the Security Council on Friday, and I expect him to return to Damascus very soon," Ban told a defense conference in Jakarta.
Ban earlier said the immediate priorities in Syria were to end violence, begin political dialogue and provide humanitarian aid.
"Our priorities are three: first an immediate end to the violence -- all violence -- and engage in inclusive political dialogue to shape the future of Syria as civilian people want to create, and thirdly we have to provide immediately and urgently humanitarian actions," he said.
Speaking to Indonesian troops working as U.N. peacekeepers, Ban on Tuesday called the situation in Syria "unacceptable" and urged the international community to act immediately to end the violence.
Annan and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi also called for a united international stand on the crisis.
A new version of the Security Council statement is now to be considered by governments after a day of talks by the 15-nation council.
Fighting broke out in the Syrian capital Damascus on Tuesday while clashes elsewhere in the country killed at least 30 people -- all but two of them civilians -- the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
21 March 2012, 10:10
20
Very soon means:
Goodbye my love goodbye
goodbye and au revoir.
As long as you remember me
I'll never be too far.
I guess that now King Saudi Illiterato is going to be busy waxing his beard one hair at a time. Perhaps, we shall also see the coconut juice leak out of Jumblat and Geagea's coconuts.
21 March 2012, 13:20
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Don't worry fellow dabbi7a. They are toning down the statement to "increase pressure on the regime."
21 March 2012, 13:24
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unfortunately all these efforts will be dashed even before their birth. The syrian regime knows full well that any opening of freedoms and stoppage of repression will result in its expulsion from power. That's why they would manouever but not grant anything in return. Assad in all fairness since he started killing his people has toppled himself even if he didn't intend to. The brutality with which he killed men, women and children are only paralelled to Staline and Soviet eras that are long gone. The best solution is for Assad to leave syria, take a decent amount of money and establish himself somewhere very far away. His people might forgive him but will never forget what he did to them. After all, God will judge people in the doomsday.
21 March 2012, 17:24
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The Syrian regime can not cease fire, any significant halt of killings by the regime means hundreds of thousands taking the streets again in protest. It will never happen. The regime will try again to manipulate the new initiative only this time it has to answer to the UN not the arab league. Either way, this is bad news for the regime.
