Credit: Luiz Rampelotto/Europa Newswire
Geneva, June 22 2012
The message to all fighters in Syria from Kofi Annan this afternoon was clear – put down your weapons and stop the fighting, for the sake of the Syrian people.
The Joint Special Envoy, speaking at a press conference in Geneva alongside the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, said he failed to understand how people who claim to love their country can inflict so much misery on their own people.
Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League on the crisis in Syria:
“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.”
The UN’s Chief Military Observer in Syria, Major General Robert Mood, who is on his way back to Syria from addressing the Security Council in New York, said that although the observers were confined to base, this did not mean they were doing nothing. Administrative duties are continuing as usual, and from their bases, the teams have views over the cities. But patrols on the streets continue to be halted until the insecurity diminishes.
Major-General Robert Mood, Head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria and Chief Military Observer:
“To have approximately 300 unarmed observers from 50 different member states on the ground without weapons – that is our main strength. That makes situations to be characterised by a lot of nerve when that is your first protection but however, it’s much more effective than if we had each of us a pistol and each of us a rifle, then we would be perceived as much more legitimate targets.”
Commenting on the necessity for humanitarian relief to reach the people, Mood said that the needs of the people, and the level of destruction that he had seen in some places was enormous, and that there was an urgent need for the humanitarian relief plan to be effective. Currently, relief operations are severely hampered by lack of access due to the security risk.
Major-General Robert Mood, Head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria and Chief Military Observer:
“What we’re seeing when we go into neighborhoods in Homs, in Dar’a, in Hama, in particular, is a level of destruction that begs rebuilding and reconstruction beyond the classical interpretation of humanitarian aid. In this context, I am also particularly concerned about the continued military occupation of hospitals, health facilities and schools, also preventing access to medical attention for those in need.”
With reference to the six-point peace plan, Kofi Annan expressed hope that it would be implemented but that pressure should be maintained for it to succeed. There is no alternative, he said, and “we cannot just sit back and do nothing.”
Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League on the crisis in Syria:
“I think we need to work with, have hope and pressure working together to get it. What is the alternative? I hear lots of comments about the plan is not being implemented, the plan has not been accepted. We cannot just step back and do nothing.”
“My own wish is to appeal to the fighters to really put down the guns for the sake of the Syrian people. And it’s sometimes difficult to understand people who are nationalists, who love their country, or claim to love their country, can inflict so much misery on the population and the country that they claim to love.”
Source: UNifeed
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