Kofi Annan today resigned as the international envoy for Syria after months of failed efforts to end conflict in the troubled nation, and lashed out at the divided international community for failing to support his peace plan.
Annan announced today that he was resigning from his post as UN-Arab League Joint envoy, six months after he was
appointed by the UN to broker peace and engage with President Bashar Al Assad’s regime and rebel forces to bring an end to the violence that has killed over 10,000 people in the last 17 months of the conflict.
A bitter Annan said it was “impossible” for him or any other mediator to facilitate a political process between the Syrian government and rebel forces without “serious and united” pressure by the international community.
Annan spoke over phone with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who expressed his “deep regret” over his decision to not renew his mandate when it expires on August 31. Annan assumed his post in late February.
“At a time when we need – when the Syrian people desperately need action – there continues to be finger-pointing and name-calling in the Security Council,” Annan told reporters in Geneva.
The increasing militarisation on the ground and the clear lack of unity in the Security Council, have fundamentally changed the circumstances for the effective exercise of my role… Without serious, purposeful and united international pressure, including from the powers of the region, it is impossible for me, or anyone, to compel the Syrian government in the first place, and also the opposition, to take the steps necessary to begin a political process,” Annan said.
In the absence of unity in the international community and the UN Security Council over how to resolve the Syrian crisis, Annan said “as an envoy, I can’t want peace more than the protagonists, more than the Security Council or the international community”.
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WAJ