UN calls off peace mission to Syria
Damascus
(AsiaNews / Agencies) - The UN will not renew its peacekeeping mission in
Syria. The
mandate expires on August 19, but the Security Council has already voted for its
suspension. According
to Edmond Mulet deputy head of the observers, the situation on the ground is
risky and no longer safe enough to continue their work. On
15 August, a bomb exploded in downtown Damascus opposite the hotel that houses
the United Nations personnel. Over
the next eight days the 101 military observers will leave Damascus. But a civilian office will remain
open. "Although
the situation is difficult - Mulet says - but we must look for a diplomatic
approach to ending the conflict."
The
end of the mission has been criticized by Russia, which fears negative
consequences for the future of Syria. Yesterday,
Vitaly Churkin, Moscow's envoy to the UN, has called on all states of the
Security Council to launch an appeal for an end to the conflict and proposed a
meeting to discuss the crisis also open to Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The
UN mission, which began in April along with the plan of Kofi Annan, former UN /Arab
special envoy League, had already expired on June 16 last. Despite
the steady deterioration of security conditions and obstacles to field
investigations, the Council voted to extend it for another three months. The
observers have often been victims of attacks, intimidation and stone-throwing
by rebels and army. The
debate on the maintenance of the mission in Syria came after Annan's
resignation August 2 and the inability to bring the parties to a cease-fire.
Meanwhile,
the conflict threatens to spread to Lebanon also. Yesterday,
the Persian Gulf countries urged their nationals to leave the country after the
kidnapping of 20 Syrian Sunni Muslim by the Meqdad clan, a powerful Lebanese
Shiite family.
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24/11/2017 10:06
23/11/2017 11:08
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08/05/2008
