...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...'s peace plan is failing and the country descending into all-out civil war.
Annan himself warned of sectarian warfare, singling out Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
and his regime as key to resolving the conflict.
"The spectra of an all-out war with a worrying sectarian dimension grows by the day," he told a ministerial meeting on Syria in Doha.
"The situation is complex and it takes everyone involved in the conflict to act responsibly if the violence is to stop. But the first responsibility lies in the Syrian government and President Assad," he said.
Up to 300 unarmed U.N. military observers have deployed in Syria since a putative ceasefire brokered by Annan went into effect in April as part of a six-point peace plan, which also stipulated that the army must pull out of towns and cities.
"I told Assad he must act now to implement all points of the plan, and must make bold and visible steps immediately to radically change his military posture and honor commitments to withdraw heavy weapons and cease all violence," Annan said.
He also said he told Assad to release detainees, open up the country to international humanitarian aid and allow freedom of expression as "this is essential to demonstrate his seriousness to the Syrian people and the international community."
Earlier, 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...
's ministerial committee on Syria had called on Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy on the crisis who met Assad earlier this week, to set a time frame for his mission.
"We request Mr. Annan to set a time frame for his mission because it is unacceptable that massacres and bloodshed continue while the mission is ongoing indefinitely," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said.
"We demand the U.N. Security Council refer the six-point (Annan plan) to Chapter VII so that the international community could assume responsibilities," he added.