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UN Observers Chief To Brief Security Council On Syria

June 19, 2012

by RFE/RL

The head of the United Nations observer mission in Syria, General Robert Mood, is set to brief the UN Security Council.

The briefing on June 19 comes after the UN mission suspended patrols by its 300 unarmed observers on June 16, saying the escalating violence between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels was making the mission too dangerous.

The UN observers were sent to Syria in April to monitor the implementation of a UN- and Arab League-backed peace plan. The plan was never implemented by the two sides.

Analysts say the continuing bloodshed in Syria has raised doubts about the viability of the UN observer mission, whose three-month mandate expires on July 20, and it is unclear whether the Security Council will renew the observers' mission.

In a joint statement issued on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Mexico, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have called for "an immediate cessation of all violence" in Syria.

However, there was no sign the two UN Security Council powers had agreed on a plan aimed at ending the conflict.

Obama told reporters after the meeting that he and Putin agreed "that a political process has to be created to prevent civil war and the kind of horrific deaths that we've seen over the last several weeks.

'Many Common Points'

Obama said he and his Russian counterpart had "pledged to work with other international actors, including the United Nations, Kofi Annan, and all interested parties, in trying to find a resolution to this problem."

Putin said they had found "many common points on all the issues."

The United States recently has criticized Russia for blocking UN resolutions threatening tough sanctions against the Assad regime, as well as for continuing arms sales to Damascus.

Russia has supported the UN observer mission, and has repeatedly called for all the Syrian parties to implement the UN-Arab League peace plan.

But Moscow has vowed to oppose any foreign intervention in the conflict, saying a resolution must be determined by Syrians only.

UN observers say more than 14,000 people are estimated to have been killed during the 15-month conflict in Syria.

With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/un-observers-chief-to-brief-security-council/24618868.html

Copyright (c) 2012. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.