United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon raises voice against Syrian civil war

UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Thursday of a “catastrophic civil war” in Syria after the massacre of more than 100 civilians in the town of Houla that sparked global horror and outrage. “The massacres of the sort seen last weekend
could plunge Syria into a catastrophic civil war, a civil war from which the country would never recover,” he told an Istanbul forum of the UN-led Alliance of Civilisations initiative.

Ban’s remarks came amid mounting international outrage over the massacre in the central town of Houla, in which at least 108 people, including 49 children, were killed, according to UN figures.

The bodies from the Houla massacre were counted by UN observers whom Ban described as “our eyes and ears of the international community.”The observers were in Syria “so that perpetrators of crimes may be held accountable,” he said.

“We are not there to play the role of passive observer to unspeakable atrocities.”The UN chief demanded that the Damascus regime honour its commitment to a peace plan drawn up by international mediator Kofi Annan.

He also demanded that “the Syrian government act on its responsibilities to its people.”An international team led by Annan visited Syria Tuesday and called for “concrete gestures” from Damascus on halting the violence.

In Istanbul, Ban said: “Annan has expressed his concerns that we may have reached a tipping point in Syria.”The UN chief dismissed talk of a clash of civilisations between East and West over Syria. We hear a great deal about the
so-called clash of civilisations, the supposed rift between predominantly Muslim and Western societies.”

“This is not what is going on in Syria. There, it is the old story of a tyranny seeking to hold power. And in seeking to hold power, the regime threatens to exacerbate tensions among Syria’s diverse people, much as we saw in the
former Yugoslavia two decades ago.” 

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Posted by Hamza Jahangir on May 31 2012. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry