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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Annan Presses Assad for Quick Answers
2012-03-15
[An Nahar] 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...
on Wednesday pressed Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
to quickly answer proposals to end Syria's strife ahead of a new diplomatic surge aimed at passing a Security Council resolution on the crisis.

Annan, who on Friday will brief the U.N. Security Council on his mission, announced that he has received one response from Assad's government.

The international envoy "has questions and is seeking answers," his front man Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement.

"But given the grave and tragic situation on the ground, everyone must realize that time is of the essence. As he said in the region, this crisis cannot be allowed to drag on," the front man added.

Annan met with Assad in Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
last weekend and said he made "concrete" proposals. He will brief the Security Council on Friday by videoconference from Geneva, diplomats said.

The council is badly divided on the best way to end the year of strife, which the U.N. says has left more than 8,000 dead. But it is waiting to hear how Assad responds to the envoy before resuming talks on a resolution on the crisis, diplomats said.

"No, I would not say I was optimistic" that Assad would end the violence or allow humanitarian access, said a senior diplomat who has been briefed on the answers already sent to Annan. "But we had never expected that there would be a yes or no answer.

"We had always expected there would be obfuscation, there would be delay, there would be questions," the diplomat added, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...

"Annan is still center stage and we are waiting to see how that turns out in the next 24-48 hours before we go back to discussing the text," said a senior council diplomat.
Posted by:Fred

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