Negotiations have become deadlocked on a memorandum of understanding which would allow the eight U.N. monitors currently in Syria to operate across the country, diplomats said.
U.N. Secretary General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
urged Syria to give the unarmed military observers free access across the country where the U.N. says well over 9,000 people have been killed in the past 13 months of conflict.
"It is the Syrian government's responsibility to guarantee freedom of access and freedom of movement within the country of these observers," the U.N. leader said during a visit to Luxembourg.
One senior U.N. diplomat said that if Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
's government does not make an accord by the end of the week then the Security Council could not allow the full mission of 200-250 observers.
Following recommendations from 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..., the U.N. Security Council resolution which sent the advance party said there had to be "full, unimpeded, and immediate freedom of movement and access" for monitors.
"I think there is a risk that the Syrians will not agree to all of that and we will have to decide what to do," said the diplomat.
"I think we will be in a reasonable position to judge by the end of this week whether the Syrians are prepared to stick to the obligations they are now under as a result of the resolution and facilitate the operation of the advanced mission or not," the envoy added.
"There is a holdup and it looks like the Syrians are doing it deliberately," a second diplomat told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of Security Council negotiations on Syria.
The Security Council resolution passed on Saturday, the first monitors arrived on Sunday and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon must produce a report by Wednesday on their work.
Annan is to brief the council before the end of the week, diplomats said.