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Protocol for U.N. Observer Mission to Syria Signed
[An Nahar] Syria on Thursday signed a preliminary accord outlining a protocol for a U.N. mission to monitor a fragile week-old ceasefire in the strife-torn country, the two sides announced.Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Meqdad signed the deal with a member of a U.N. advance team, the ministry said in a statement. "This agreement comes within the framework of Syrian efforts aimed at making the Annan plan succeed and to facilitate the U.N. observer mission while respecting Syria's illusory sovereignty," the statement said. A front man for U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Kofi Annan  ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo..., who drafted the six-point ceasefire accord, confirmed in Geneva that an agreement had been concluded between the two parties. "This agreement outlines the functions of the observers as they fulfill their mandate in Syria and the tasks and responsibilities of the Syrian government in this regard," Ahmed Fawzi said in a statement. "An effective observer team on the ground is vital if the lives of ordinary Syrian families are to slowly return to normal." He added that discussions were under way with members of the Syrian opposition to ensure they also comply with the ceasefire. "The hard part lies ahead, a truly Syrian-led and -owned political dialogue to address the legitimate concerns and aspirations of the Syrian people," Fawzi said. The protocol will pave the way for some 300 U.N. observers to fan across the country to monitor a week-old truce aimed at ending 13 months of violence in Syria that the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... says has killed well over 9,000 people. Posted by: Fred 2012-04-20 |
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