UN: The United Nation's new head of the mission to Syria (UNSMIS), Major General Robert Mood,says the short 30 day mission extension is not a last chance for peace but what it can achieve depends on the reality on the ground.

Record ID: 277698

  • Title: UN: The United Nation's new head of the mission to Syria (UNSMIS), Major General Robert Mood,says the short 30 day mission extension is not a last chance for peace but what it can achieve depends on the reality on the ground.
  • Date: 21st July 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (JULY 19, 2012) (REUTERS) UN VEHICLES LEAVING HOTEL
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9YQPWOXVCNNB0LY3YBPJKQWS4
  • Story Text: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Friday (July 20) to briefly extend a monitoring mission in Syria for 30 days, keeping alive a key part of international envoy Kofi Annan's faltering plan to end the 16-month conflict that has killed thousands of people.
    At its head will be top military official General Babacar Gaye who is due to arrive in Damascus, Syria on Tuesday (July 24).
    Despite deep divisions over how to deal with the crisis in Syria, the Security Council backed Annan's peace plan and agreed in April to deploy 300 unarmed observers for an initial 90 days to help implement his six-point strategy to end the fighting.
    Gaye said this extension was not a last chance mission but conceded it was difficult to decide on what action to take on the ground.
    "Upon arriving to Syria, first of all I will ensure that the mission is in a position to use in the best way these 30 days, that I consider not as the days of the last chance, but as a demonstration of the concern of international community, even though the way of this concern are different from one member state to another, indeed, there is a concern because people are suffering in Syria. So this will be let's say my orientation to use in the best way this very short period of time," Gaye said.
    Major General Robert Mood, head of the U.N. monitoring mission, left Damascus on Thursday. The mission's mandate had been due to expire at midnight ED T Fr iday ( 0400 GMT Saturday).
    Annan's plan calls for an end to violence, a Syrian-led political process, access for aid, the release of arbitrarily detained people, freedom of movement for journalists and the freedom to protest peacefully. The U.N. monitoring mission is crucial to helping implement the plan.
    A Western diplomat said it is understood that Assad called Mood after a bomb attack in Damascus on Wednesday killed members of Assad's inner circle. Assad told Mood that he would implement the Annan plan if Mood could get the rebels to stop their attacks. Annan and Mood were not available to comment.
    The mission's 300 unarmed observers, whose role has been to monitor a failed April 12 ceasefire in Syria brokered by Annan, suspended their activity on June 16 because of increased risk from rising violence. There are also some 100 civilian staff working on a political solution and monitoring rights problems.
    U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said on Friday the council has hit a "substantive dead end" on Syria and that Washington was looking outside the world body for ways to tackle the crisis. She described Friday's resolution to extend the U.N. Syria mission, known as UNSMIS, as simply an exit plan.
    With little progress made in the five months since Annan was appointed by the United Nations and the African Union to try to end the Syria crisis, the former U.N. secretary-general had asked the Security Council last week to back up his plan with "clear consequences" for non-compliance by both sides.
    "The reality is that everything will depend on the reality on the ground. And we have to confess that our ability to influence this reality on the ground so far has not met our expectations. So everything will depend again on the developments on the ground," said Gaye.
    Assad's forces have killed more than 15,000 people since a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters began in March 2011, according to some Western leaders. Damascus says rebels have killed several thousand of its security forces.
    On Friday Syrian government forces fought to recapture border posts and parts of Damascus from rebels on Friday, seeking to take back the initiative following Wednesday's bombing.
    The 15-member UN Security Council has been paralyzed when it comes to taking stronger action - including threatening sanctions - against Damascus. Russia and China have blocked three Western-backed attempts to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and end the conflict that began as peaceful pro-democracy protests.
    Babacar Gaye, a Senegalese general, has served as the advisor on United Nations peacekeeping operations since 2010. Before that he was the force commander of the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUC from 2005 to 2010.
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