UN Council’s failure on Syria will be ‘license’ to kill: Ban

UN Security Council should act on the Syria conflict says UN leader Ban Ki Moon

UN leader Ban Ki-Moon demanded that the UN Security Council should act on the Syria conflict,warning that any failure would be giving a license for further massacres.

Ban joined with UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to express outrage at the mass killings in the Syrian village of Treimsa and to make an “urgent call” for pressure on President Bashar al-Assad. Annan said Security Council resolutions had been flouted.I call upon all member States to take collective and decisive action to immediately and fully stop the tragedy unfolding in Syria. Inaction becomes a license for further massacres,” Ban said yesterday in a hard-hitting statement aimed at the council.

The massacre of at least 150 people in Treimsa has added new urgency to deadlocked Security Council negotiations on a Syria resolution. Russia has rejected western demands for non-military sanctions to be threatened to back Annan’s peace efforts.

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Ban expressed outrage at the “horrific” killings in Treimsa on Thursday,which he said cast serious doubt on Assad’s commitment to an international peace plan. The UN leader strongly condemned the indiscriminate use of heavy artillery and shelling of populated areas,including by firing from helicopters.

Annan said in a letter to the Security Council that the use of artillery,tanks and helicopters was a violation of the Syrian government’s obligations and commitment to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers.

Tragically,we now have another grim reminder that the council’s resolutions continue to be flouted, Annan said in the letter.

The council passed two resolutions in April which set up the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) and demanded that Assad carry out the six-point peace plan he agreed with Annan. The agreement included a halt to the use of heavy weapons.

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Annan reaffirmed his call for the council to send a message to all that there will be consequences for non-compliance with his plan.This is imperative and could not be more urgent in the light of unfolding events,he added.

UN envoys held more talks yesterday in a bid to break their deadlock on a Security Council resolution to renew the UN mission. A vote must be held by July 20 when the mission’s 90-day mandate runs out.