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UN observers standing by as Syria cease-fire holds
Source: Agencies |
April 14, 2012, Saturday
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AN advance team of UN observers is ready to enter Syria, where the cease-fire has been "relatively respected" despite government troops and heavy weapons still in cities, the spokesman for international envoy Kofi Annan said yesterday.
The advance team is "standing by to board planes and to get themselves on the ground as soon as possible" once the UN Security Council gives approval for the mission, as hoped when it was due to meet later yesterday, Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi told a news conference.
Annan has asked the 15-nation Security Council to approve sending a UN observer mission to Syria as soon as possible. The council's draft resolution would authorize an advance element of up to 30 unarmed military observers.
The resolution being considered also would demand the government ensure their "full and unimpeded freedom of movement throughout Syria" and guarantee the mission's ability to interview any individual "freely or in private."
It also would demand that President Bashar Assad's government withdraw its troops and heavy weapons from population centers, and reiterates its call for unimpeded access for humanitarian workers.
The demands are part of Annan's six-point plan to stop the slide toward civil war and launch talks on a political transition.
If the council gave its approval yesterday, Fawzi said that the advance team would quickly prepare the way for a full mission - which would require an additional Security Council approval - of up to 250 observers.
"And then next week, if the cease-fire holds ... then the council could authorized a full-fledged observer mission, with all the capacities needed, to support on the ground, the implementation of the six-point plan," said Fawzi.
Syria's opposition, meanwhile, called for widespread protests yesterday as a test of Assad's commitment to the UN-brokered cease-fire that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Geneva is so fragile that a single gunshot could derail it.
Government forces halted shelling and other major attacks in line with the truce that began at dawn on Thursday, but tanks and troops remained that could dissuade opponents from gathering.
Fawzi quoted Annan as telling the council during its two-hour closed-door briefing on Thursday that "the continued presence of Syrian armed forces, including armor, in and around population centers, must end immediately. Violence ... must stop."
Fawzi also quoted Annan as telling the council "that we need eyes on the ground, in light of the fragile calm that appears to be prevailing. We need eyes on the ground quickly to observe and monitor the situation."
The advance team is "standing by to board planes and to get themselves on the ground as soon as possible" once the UN Security Council gives approval for the mission, as hoped when it was due to meet later yesterday, Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi told a news conference.
Annan has asked the 15-nation Security Council to approve sending a UN observer mission to Syria as soon as possible. The council's draft resolution would authorize an advance element of up to 30 unarmed military observers.
The resolution being considered also would demand the government ensure their "full and unimpeded freedom of movement throughout Syria" and guarantee the mission's ability to interview any individual "freely or in private."
It also would demand that President Bashar Assad's government withdraw its troops and heavy weapons from population centers, and reiterates its call for unimpeded access for humanitarian workers.
The demands are part of Annan's six-point plan to stop the slide toward civil war and launch talks on a political transition.
If the council gave its approval yesterday, Fawzi said that the advance team would quickly prepare the way for a full mission - which would require an additional Security Council approval - of up to 250 observers.
"And then next week, if the cease-fire holds ... then the council could authorized a full-fledged observer mission, with all the capacities needed, to support on the ground, the implementation of the six-point plan," said Fawzi.
Syria's opposition, meanwhile, called for widespread protests yesterday as a test of Assad's commitment to the UN-brokered cease-fire that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Geneva is so fragile that a single gunshot could derail it.
Government forces halted shelling and other major attacks in line with the truce that began at dawn on Thursday, but tanks and troops remained that could dissuade opponents from gathering.
Fawzi quoted Annan as telling the council during its two-hour closed-door briefing on Thursday that "the continued presence of Syrian armed forces, including armor, in and around population centers, must end immediately. Violence ... must stop."
Fawzi also quoted Annan as telling the council "that we need eyes on the ground, in light of the fragile calm that appears to be prevailing. We need eyes on the ground quickly to observe and monitor the situation."
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