Ban implores Assad to stop the violence
Source: Agencies |
January 16, 2012, Monday
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UNITED Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Syria's President Bashar al-Assad yesterday to halt violence against a 10-month uprising and said the "old order" of dynasties and one-man rule in the Arab world was coming to an end.
"Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end," Ban told a conference in Lebanon on political reform.
The UN says more than 5,000 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown on protests which erupted against Assad in March, inspired by uprisings that toppled three Arab leaders last year.
Syria says 2,000 members of the government forces have been killed by "armed terrorists".
"From the very beginning of the ... revolutions, from Tunisia through Egypt and beyond, I called on leaders to listen to their people," Ban said. "Some did, and benefited. Others did not, and today they are reaping the whirlwind."
The conflict in Syria has become one of the bloodiest and enduring confrontations of the "Arab Spring". An escalating armed insurgency, driven by army defectors and gunmen, has raised fears of civil war.
The deployment of Arab League monitors in Syria has failed to stem the bloodshed and Assad has vowed to crush what he says is a foreign-backed conspiracy.
The 46-year-old president, who inherited power when his father died in 2000, also promised a parliamentary election under a new constitution later this year, and yesterday declared a general amnesty for crimes committed during the uprising.
"The old way, the old order, is crumbling," Ban said.
"One-man rule and the perpetuation of family dynasties, monopolies of wealth and power, the silencing of the media, the deprivation of fundamental freedoms... To all of this, the people say: Enough."
But he also said the transition to democracy in the region would be hard and drawn out, requiring genuine reform, inclusive dialogue, a proper role for women and a solution for millions of young people seeking work.
In the short term, the instability created by the uprisings had exacerbated economic difficulties. Unemployment was rising, along with food and fuel prices, while commerce suffered.
Where authoritarian rulers had been toppled, there was no guarantee that their successors would uphold human rights.
"The new regimes must not elevate certain religious or ethnic communities at the expense of others," he said.
"Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end," Ban told a conference in Lebanon on political reform.
The UN says more than 5,000 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown on protests which erupted against Assad in March, inspired by uprisings that toppled three Arab leaders last year.
Syria says 2,000 members of the government forces have been killed by "armed terrorists".
"From the very beginning of the ... revolutions, from Tunisia through Egypt and beyond, I called on leaders to listen to their people," Ban said. "Some did, and benefited. Others did not, and today they are reaping the whirlwind."
The conflict in Syria has become one of the bloodiest and enduring confrontations of the "Arab Spring". An escalating armed insurgency, driven by army defectors and gunmen, has raised fears of civil war.
The deployment of Arab League monitors in Syria has failed to stem the bloodshed and Assad has vowed to crush what he says is a foreign-backed conspiracy.
The 46-year-old president, who inherited power when his father died in 2000, also promised a parliamentary election under a new constitution later this year, and yesterday declared a general amnesty for crimes committed during the uprising.
"The old way, the old order, is crumbling," Ban said.
"One-man rule and the perpetuation of family dynasties, monopolies of wealth and power, the silencing of the media, the deprivation of fundamental freedoms... To all of this, the people say: Enough."
But he also said the transition to democracy in the region would be hard and drawn out, requiring genuine reform, inclusive dialogue, a proper role for women and a solution for millions of young people seeking work.
In the short term, the instability created by the uprisings had exacerbated economic difficulties. Unemployment was rising, along with food and fuel prices, while commerce suffered.
Where authoritarian rulers had been toppled, there was no guarantee that their successors would uphold human rights.
"The new regimes must not elevate certain religious or ethnic communities at the expense of others," he said.
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