A full-blown civil war is imminent in Syria, says Kofi Annan
June 8, United Nations: The Former U.N secretary-general and United Nations-Arab League envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan has made a warning that the pace of conflict in Syria is developing to a full-blown civil war. He blamed President Bashar Assad’s government for his failure of peace plan.
“If things do not change, the future is likely to be one of brutal repression, massacres, sectarian violence, and even all-out civil war,” Annan told the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “All Syrians will lose.”
“Clearly, the time has come to determine what more can be done to secure implementation of the plan,” Annan said. “We must also chart a clearer course for a peaceful transition, if we are to help the government and opposition, as well as Syrian society, to help resolve the crisis.”
UN patrols in Syria have on several instances been deliberately targeted with heavy weapons, armor-piercing ammunition and a surveillance drone, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council, according to a senior UN official. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because Thursday’s council meeting was private, said Ban also reported repeated incidents of firing close to UN patrols, apparently to get them to withdraw.
Annan hopes his new idea, for a contact group that would bring together world powers and regional players such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Iran, can prevent a collapse of his plan for a truce and a political solution, a U.N. diplomats said.
The Syrian opposition and Western and Gulf nations seeking President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster increasingly see Annan’s six-point peace plan as doomed because of Syria’s consistent use of military force to crush an increasingly militarized opposition.
Western Security Council diplomats said the message from Annan and Ban at the United Nations was clear: It was time to hit Assad’s government with sanctions.
Both Ban Ki-moon and Annan strongly condemned a reported massacre of at least 78 people Mazraat al-Qubeir and acknowledged that Annan’s peace plan was not working.
“Today’s news reports of another massacre in (Mazraat) al-Qubeir … are shocking and sickening,” Ban told a special session of the 193-nation General Assembly.
“We condemn this unspeakable barbarity and renew our determination to bring those responsible to account,” he said.
Speaking to the 15-nation Security Council, Ban said hopes for success of Annan’s peace bid were fading and suggested that the United Nations must soon decide whether its 300-member monitoring mission in Syria was sustainable or useful, UN diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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