|
Annan warns of "all-out" sectarian war in Syria
[Al Ahram] International peace 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...warned on Saturday that Syria was slipping into "all-out" war, and a Syrian opposition figure said Russia had become part of the problem and should urge Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... to quit power. "The spectre of an all-out war, with an alarming sectarian dimension, grows by the day," Annan told a meeting of members of the 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... , co-sponsor with the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... of a peace plan aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria. Burhan Ghalioun of the Syrian National Council, the divided body claiming to speak for political opposition to Assad, said: "With its support of the regime and for Assad remaining, Russia has become part of the problem rather than part of the solution. If it cooperates to find a formula that makes Assad leave, it will become part of the solution." Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani of Qatar - which has backed arming Sunni Moslem forces of Evil fighting to topple Assad, a member of Syria's minority Alawite sect - said Annan should set a time limit for his mission. He also called on the U.N. Security Council to put Annan's plan - based on a ceasefire that has yet to take hold, and that is meant to lead to a negotiated end to the Syrian crisis - under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, a measure that could authorise the use of force. "We want the Security Council to refer the six-point (Annan) plan to a Chapter 7 resolution. We, the international community, cannot accept the situation to continue as it is," he said. Posted by: Fred 2012-06-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=345876 |