SYRIA: UN Monitors leave Syria but ready to redeploy

Record ID: 281071

  • Title: SYRIA: UN Monitors leave Syria but ready to redeploy
  • Date: 21st July 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (JULY 21,2012) (REUTERS) U.N. CONVOY IN FRONT OF HOTEL VARIOUS OF OBSERVERS PLACING BAGS INTO THE BACK OF A CAR OBSERVER GETTING INTO CAR VARIOUS OF OBSERVERS IN FRONT OF HOTEL LUGGAGE BEING PLACED INTO THE BACK OF A CAR MORE OF OBSERVERS PREPARING TO LEAVE AND SITTING IN CAR VARIOUS OF CARS LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA7EWWAXF0VXQZDVRMH19GT9ZZR
  • Story Text: The departure of U.N. observers from Syria started on Saturday (July 21), following a unanimous vote by the Security Council to approve a 30-day extension of a small, unarmed observer mission for a further 30 days.
    The brief extension gives a lifeline to a key part of international envoy Kofi Annan's faltering plan to end the 16-month conflict that has killed thousands of people.
    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.
    But the 15-member council has been paralysed 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.
    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, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended shifting the emphasis of the work of the UNSMIS from monitoring the nonexistent truce to pursuing a political solution. Diplomats said only half of the 300 unarmed observers would be needed for Ban's suggested shift in focus. The rest would return to their home countries, but be ready to redeploy at short notice.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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