SWITZERLAND: International mediator Kofi Annan says the peace plan for Syria cannot be 'open-ended' and urges the international community to come together to find solution to the crisis

Record ID: 281096

  • Title: SWITZERLAND: International mediator Kofi Annan says the peace plan for Syria cannot be 'open-ended' and urges the international community to come together to find solution to the crisis
  • Date: 23rd June 2012
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (JUNE 22, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF U.N. HEADQUARTERS U.N. FLAG FLYING SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA, KOFI ANNAN AND CHIEF OF UNSMIS, MAJOR-GENERAL ROBERT MOOD, WALKING DOWN CORRIDOR ANNAN AND MOOD ARRIVING FOR PRESS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS AT PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA, KOFI ANNAN, SAYING: "The longer we wait, the
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9DOHVHR09XH47A07MNJ979VVE
  • Story Text: The crisis in Syria could soon spiral out of control, international mediator Kofi Annan said at a press conference in Geneva on Friday (June 22), and called on the international community to take urgent action.
    "The longer we wait, the darker Syria's future becomes. This process cannot be open-ended. It is urgent that our consultations yield real results soon. Otherwise I fear we are reaching the day, when it will be too late to stop the crisis from spiralling out of control. The time to act is now," he said.
    The former U.N. secretary-general said he wanted states with influence on both sides of the conflict to be involved in the peace plan and urged countries not to act individually.
    "It is only by working together, that we can help improve the situation and also help the Syrians, and that if we continue the way we are going and competing with each other, it could lead to destructive competition and everyone will pay a price, most of all the innocent Syrian people and the region," he said.
    He also said Iran should be part of the solution, a week before a planned crisis meeting that is in doubt because of Western objections to the Islamic Republic's participation.
    Meanwhile, the Chief of the U.N. Syria monitoring force, Major-General Robert Mood, said the 300 U.N. observers in the country were still trying to monitor the situation, despite their mission having being suspended.
    "The observers in Syria at the moment, they are mainly in their team sites at headquarters, but that does not mean that we are doing nothing. It means that from their team sites they have view of the surrounding areas, the city. We are also continuing the engagement by telephone with the different parties, and we've also had some patrols going to local hospitals and assessing the situation. So let's say the normal administrative activities are ongoing, but patrols and exploring new areas and going into new projects is not on the agenda while the activities are suspended," he told the news conference.
    Escalating violence in Syria forced the United Nations observers to suspend their operations last Saturday (June 16).
    Mood said the fighting posed a threat to his unarmed observers, one of whose patrols was fired upon four days earlier, and prevented them from carrying out their mandate to oversee Annan's widely ignored April 12 ceasefire.
    The Norwegian peacekeeper blamed both government troops and rebels for the relentless conflict, in which President Bashar al-Assad's forces are trying to crush an increasingly well-armed insurgency which grew out of a 15-month-old wave of protests.
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