SYRIA: U.N. observers say they will stay in Syria until their mission is completed

Record ID: 280627

  • Title: SYRIA: U.N. observers say they will stay in Syria until their mission is completed
  • Date: 20th April 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (APRIL 19, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF HOTEL VARIOUS OF THE U.N. OBSERVERS LEAVING THE HOTEL RESTAURANT VARIOUS OF U.N. OBSERVERS WALKING TOWARDS REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. COLONEL AHMAD HIMMICH, CHIEF OF THE INITIAL U.N. TEAM, SAYING: (REPORTER ASKING: WHAT'S YOUR PLAN FOR TODAY? WHAT'S YOUR SCHEDULE FOR TODAY?) "We don't discuss our plan esp
  • Embargoed: 5th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2C977BDTKQSLQ8N56BFAWBSSX
  • Story Text: U.N. monitors in Syria said on Thursday (April 19) they are prepared to stay in the country until their mission is complete.
    An advance team of U.N. observers is in Damascus to monitor the implementation of a cease-fire brokered by UN-Arab League joint special envoy Kofi Annan. While the truce has held in some parts, in strong opposition areas such as Homs, Hama, Idlib and Deraa the army has kept up attacks on rebels.
    "We'll stay as long as we have to perform our tasks which has been mandated to us," Colonel Ahmad Himmich, head of the U.N. monitors initial team, told reporters as he left his hotel in the morning.
    He refused to reveal what his team's schedule was for the today saying it was for their own security.
    The monitors visited Syria's southern province of Deraa on Tuesday (April 18), the birthplace of the domestic unrest in Syria. U.N.Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said they had "enjoyed freedom of movement" there but noted "the team's initial request to visit Homs was not granted, with officials claiming security concerns."
    Diplomats say Annan's main aim is to get a U.N. mission on the ground backed by Syria's supporters Russia and China, even if it is not big enough at first to do the job.
    In the first progress report since the Security Council passed a resolution on Saturday (April 14) authorising the deployment of observers, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed an expanded mission of 300 personnel, for three months, to monitor a shaky ceasefire between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and opposition fighters.
    Damascus has challenged Ban over the size and scope of the mission, dismissing his efforts to increase the number of observers and secure European help in supplying planes and helicopters as unnecessary.
    The UN leader also wrote, in a report to be discussed by the UN Security Council on Thursday, that it was "critical" for Assad to adhere to an agreed peace plan.
    His report, obtained by AFP, said that even though Syrian troops have not been withdrawn from cities and violence has escalated since the ceasefire began, "an opportunity for progress may now exist, on which we need to build." The 300 observers would be deployed over several weeks. They would go to about 10 different parts of Syria to monitor the fragile cessation of hostilities that began on April 12 and the implementation of a peace plan by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, which Syria has agreed to support.
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