UN-Arab League envoy calls on Syria to end violence

UN-Arab League envoy calls on Syria to end violence

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League joint special envoy for the Syrian conflict, said Wednesday, Feb 20, he would ask President Bashar al-Assad to engage in the process of working out a settlement to the violence in the country, M&C reported citing DPA.

The former UN secretary general, who was plucked out of retirement to take on the difficult task of mediating the year-old conflict in Syria, met with his successor Ban Ki-moon in New York to discuss his responsibilities.

“I would plead with him (al-Assad) to engage not only me but also with the process that we have launched today,” Annan told reporters at UN headquarters. “For the sake of the Syrian people who are caught in the middle, a peaceful solution through dialogue is the only way to go.”

Annan said he plans to go to Damascus “fairly soon” after leaving New York for Cairo. But he warned that al-Assad might not agree to meet with him because the two had not met for a few years, not since Annan ended his tenure as UN secretary general in 1997.

Annan described his work as a representative of both the UN and Arab League as a “difficult assignment and a tough challenge.” But he pledged to do “everything possible” to achieve what is expected of him, including stopping the violence.

Both Ban and Annan urged the international community to speak with one voice in trying to settle the conflict in Syria, which the UN says has killed “well over 7,500” people on both sides.

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