SYRIA: Syrian peace envoy Kofi Annan's deputy Jean-Marie Guehenno arrives in Damascus

Record ID: 280838

  • Title: SYRIA: Syrian peace envoy Kofi Annan's deputy Jean-Marie Guehenno arrives in Damascus
  • Date: 19th May 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (MAY 18, 2012) (REUTERS) DEPUTY OF UN-ARAB LEAGUE ENVOY KOFI ANNAN, JEAN-MARIE GUEHENNO, ARRIVING GUEHENNO IN HOTEL LIFT UN UNDER SECRETARY GENERAL FOR PEACEKEEPING HERVE LADSOUS ARRIVING WITH UNSMIS CHIEF ROBERT MOOD AND GETTING IN LIFT CAMERAS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UN UNDER SECRETARY GENERAL FOR PEACEKEEPING HERVE LADSOUS, SAYING: "We have been depl
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA2NUZUNUPKHEIB8IKVYKNB804D
  • Story Text: A deputy of Kofi Annan, the international mediator on Syria, arrived in the capital Damascus on Friday (May 18).
    Earlier Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a regular U.N. briefing an "important person" would visit Damascus later on Friday.
    Annan intended to go there at some stage, and his deputy had a specific travel plan. Fawzi did not name the deputy but his identity was revealed later in Damascus when Jean-Marie Guehenno arrived to pave the way.
    "It is very important for us to make sure that this mission serves a purpose that brings back peace to the Syrian people and I will be working intensively in the next few days to that effect," Guehenno told journalists.
    There are 257 unarmed U.N. monitors in Syria to observe an unraveling five-week-old truce brokered by U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Annan.
    The UN's head of peacekeeping, Herve Ladsous, congratulated the monitors for their work but added: "This of course is not an end in itself. This mission is supposed to help in support of the six-point plan of the special envoy Kofi Annan to achieve cessation of violence to work toward that end with the cooperation of all those involved and create a space in which the political dialogue, the political process can develop."
    Guehenno plans to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem to discuss Annan's planned visit.
    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon's Military Adviser, Babacar Gaye, arrived earlier on Damascus in a three-day visit.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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