Annan Spokesman Says Plan for Syria is 'On Track',
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
U.N. mediator Kofi Annan's plan for Syria is "on track", though progress in implementing the ceasefire is slow, his spokesman said Friday.
"The Annan plan is on track and a crisis that has been going on for over a year is not going to be resolved in a day or a week," Ahmed Fawzi, the U.N. and Arab League envoy's spokesman, told journalists in Geneva.
"There are signs on the ground of movement, albeit slow and small," he added.
"Some heavy weapons have been withdrawn, some heavy weapons remain. Some violence has receded, some violence continues. And that is not satisfactory, I'm not saying it is."
Overall, Fawzi said, the plan and the U.N. observers who are on the ground overseeing its implementation -- a team he reported had grown to about 50 by Friday -- have had an impact.
But he decried continuing violence between President Bashar Assad's regime and opposition forces in a conflict that has killed more than 11,000 people since flaring in March 2011.
"This is a difficult and complex mediation effort. There are days when things are progressing in a satisfactory manner and there are days where we feel that it's a rough ride," he said.
"However having said that, even on the days that we feel there is satisfactory progress... we are horrified by the extent of the violence that we see on the ground."
04 May 2012, 15:15
04
Fraud! This only gives the "international community" cover to let more time run off the clock while they try to work up the nerve to do what is necessary, while also giving Assad more time to kill as many from the Opposition as he can, while he can.
This is not progress, it is an excuse for continued dithering and inaction by those states who know what they need to do, but lack the will to act.
04 May 2012, 18:39
01
@beiruti - Unfortunately. wheels of diplomacy run even slower than wheels of justice. Obama will soon run out of third parties to offload the Syrian crisis on (first he offloaded to Turkey, then to the Arab league and now to the Russians). In the end, when Annan's plan does finally fail and the US election comes to pass, then, and only then, you will see real moves to decisively end this once and for all. Unfortunate yes, but that is how real politic works.
04 May 2012, 19:15
01
@libnanfirst, yes, what you say is true. The moral bankruptcy of the status quo is that Obama must first take care of himself before he can take measures to end the killing in Syria. And worse, it is a bad political move for Obama to do the right thing in the months before the election. He should be credited, but instead will be criticized and drop in the polls, such is the amoral state of the American political process.
04 May 2012, 15:35
30
anything that will keep Salafis and takfiris away from our borders is welcome! I don't think a bigger danger could exist
04 May 2012, 18:45
02
@kesrweneh - Many in M14 do not disagree with your fears vis Salfis taking over Arab governments especially in Syria. That said, many in M14 or their sympathizers - myself included - are equally not comfortable and fearful of the Wilayat Al Faqih followers. In general, we the Sunnis as not only the majority they are among all Moslems but the ones that are more apt to accept modifications to the strict rule of religion (shari'a) in civil societies. We see no such renaissance amongst the Shi'a so far.
