UN pushes for 300 to monitor truce in Syria
Source: Agencies |
April 21, 2012, Saturday
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THE United Nations should send 300 monitors to Syria as soon as possible to try to stop a wave of killing and violence that a cease-fire has failed to halt, a spokesman for UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said yesterday.
Seven unarmed UN observers are in Syria monitoring a week-old truce, with two to follow on Monday and the full advance team of 30 due in the coming week, spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.
But preparations are already under way for the arrival of up to 300 more observers, whose deployment he said he hoped the UN Security Council would approve in the next two to three days.
"We are preparing for the deployment because we feel that it is going to happen sooner or later because it must happen," Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva.
"The situation on the ground is not good, as we all know. It's a very fragile cease-fire, there are casualties every day, there are incidents every day, and we have to do everything we can to stop what's going on - the killing, the violence in all forms."
Activists said that Syrian troops fired bullets and tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters yesterday, and state media reported that a roadside bomb killed 10 soldiers in the latest violence, the Associated Press reported.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a progress report on Thursday, said Syria had not fully withdrawn its troops and heavy weapons from towns as agreed under Annan's peace plan to end 13 months of violence. He recommended raising the number of observers to as many as 300.
As in all UN peacekeeping operations, the monitors need support, including vehicles, communications equipment and medical supplies - "all kinds of gear to help them in their very difficult and risky job," Fawzi said.
On Thursday, Syria and the UN signed an agreement setting the working conditions for hundreds of observers to monitor a cease-fire. The agreement stipulates "unfettered access" and freedom for monitors to travel and contact people, Fawzi said. The terms also apply to the full team of up to 300, he said.
"The Syrian authorities have been cooperating with our teams on the ground, up to a certain extent," he said, adding that there had been the usual back and forth in the negotiations.
"But there was what we believe to be a genuine desire on the Syrian side to conclude this agreement and to support ... monitors," he said.
Seven unarmed UN observers are in Syria monitoring a week-old truce, with two to follow on Monday and the full advance team of 30 due in the coming week, spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.
But preparations are already under way for the arrival of up to 300 more observers, whose deployment he said he hoped the UN Security Council would approve in the next two to three days.
"We are preparing for the deployment because we feel that it is going to happen sooner or later because it must happen," Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva.
"The situation on the ground is not good, as we all know. It's a very fragile cease-fire, there are casualties every day, there are incidents every day, and we have to do everything we can to stop what's going on - the killing, the violence in all forms."
Activists said that Syrian troops fired bullets and tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters yesterday, and state media reported that a roadside bomb killed 10 soldiers in the latest violence, the Associated Press reported.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a progress report on Thursday, said Syria had not fully withdrawn its troops and heavy weapons from towns as agreed under Annan's peace plan to end 13 months of violence. He recommended raising the number of observers to as many as 300.
As in all UN peacekeeping operations, the monitors need support, including vehicles, communications equipment and medical supplies - "all kinds of gear to help them in their very difficult and risky job," Fawzi said.
On Thursday, Syria and the UN signed an agreement setting the working conditions for hundreds of observers to monitor a cease-fire. The agreement stipulates "unfettered access" and freedom for monitors to travel and contact people, Fawzi said. The terms also apply to the full team of up to 300, he said.
"The Syrian authorities have been cooperating with our teams on the ground, up to a certain extent," he said, adding that there had been the usual back and forth in the negotiations.
"But there was what we believe to be a genuine desire on the Syrian side to conclude this agreement and to support ... monitors," he said.
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