SYRIA: Hopes high for U.N. ceasefire monitoring mission

Record ID: 280732

  • Title: SYRIA: Hopes high for U.N. ceasefire monitoring mission
  • Date: 22nd April 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN JOURNALIST, KHALIL HAMLO, SAYING: "Whoever wants to commit to the Annan's plan and get the country out of this crisis have to follow this decision. Monitors will be real observers and look on the ground into who commits and who breaks the lines made for this plan." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN HOTEL LOBBY
  • Embargoed: 7th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA6SXPTA4WKHD9CJP01HJVRA5QB
  • Story Text: The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Saturday (April 21) that authorizes an initial deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers to Syria for three months to monitor a fragile week-old ceasefire in a 13-month old conflict.
    But the 15-nation council's move to condition deployment of observers on a U.N. assessment of compliance with the truce reflected U.S. and European concerns that Damascus' failure to halt the violence, return troops to barracks and withdraw heavy weapons from towns makes the prospects for success slim.
    A group of Syrian journalists gathered at the Sheraton Hotel in Damascus to watch the live coverage of the U.N. vote on television.
    Some felt the increased number of U.N. observers would be sufficient to properly monitor the ceasefire progress.
    "Whoever wants to commit to the Annan's plan and get the country out of this crisis have to follow this decision. Monitors will be real observers and look on the ground into who commits and who breaks the lines made for this plan," said journalist Khalil Hamlo.
    The Russia-European drafted resolution said that deployment of the U.N. observer mission will be "subject to assessment by the Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) of relevant developments on the ground, including the cessation of violence."
    The resolution also noted that the cessation of violence by the government and opposition is "clearly incomplete" and warned that the 15-nation body could consider "further steps" in the event of non-compliance with its terms.
    Like the council's resolution from last week that authorized deployment of an advance team of up to 30 monitors, Saturday's resolution calls on both the Syria government and opposition to halt fighting that has killed thousands over the past year.
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