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Dublin: 6 °C Thursday 23 May, 2013

UN chief urges Syria to stop attacks

Ban Ki-Moon said UN observers monitoring the ceasefire were not there to watch the killings of innocent people.

A Syrian refugee girl in the school corridor where she is temporarily living in a Lebanese-Syrian border town
A Syrian refugee girl in the school corridor where she is temporarily living in a Lebanese-Syrian border town
Image: AP Photo/Hussein Malla

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL Ban Ki-moon has called on Syria to stop its attacks, saying U.N. observers monitoring the ceasefire were not there to watch the killings of innocent people.

Ban was speaking Thursday at a summit of the Alliance of Civilisations, a forum promoting understanding between the Western and Islamic worlds, days after more than 100 people were massacred in Syria’s central Houla region.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, called on the world to listen to their conscience and see the desperation of families whose children are massacred in Syria.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan says these are “our children who are massacred in Hama, Homs and Houla, as much they are the children of desperate Syrian families.”

Erdogan says the world should not remain silent in the face of “oppression.”

Separately, Syrian rebels have told BasharAssad’s regime it has until Friday afternoon to observe Kofi Annan’s plan for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in Syria. The rebes warned that they will take “courageous decisions” if the deadline is not met.

- Additional reporting by Christine Bohan

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Comments (12 Comments)

  • I think we should rename the United Nations to the Useless Naggers. Much more fitting title in my opinion.

    Reply
  • Assad must be bricking it now that the UN are giving out so sternly…

    Reply
  • “Oh Basher…. That’s awful…. please, pretty please, stop the slaughter.” Why can’t the entire world recognise the value of human life over the price of oil and weapons contracts? Shame on China and Russia in delaying the strong-arming that Syria’s government needs to stop the killing of innocent civilians.

    Reply
  • The three of you want military intervention and huge loss civilian life in Syria……..Right? Why are you people nor harping on about other countries where there is repression such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uganda, Liberia etc. Is it that you simply regurgitate what you read and see in what passes for an objective media here where investigative international journalism is non – existent?

    Reply
    • I would say they are not harping on about other wars because this article is about the Syrian conflict and there’s not enough room on the whole of journal.ie to cover the atrocities of every war going on these days. Good enough for you?

      Reply
  • The UN have decided to move to the next level.
    They are sending an envoy that will arrive in Syria and collectively wiggle their finger and tut at Assad

    Reply
  • Not good enough as you have missed the main point; why is this website along with the other mainstream media prioritizing this story? It’s not their fault for commenting but what is it they want to see happen in Syria and why?

    Reply
    • Kitalpha 31/05/12 #

      They are all repeaters. They are given the news to report. Simple. If anyone wants to know whats actually happening in Syria and not what the Rotschilds want you to think i recommend Lizzie Phelans blog or go to youtube and search for Syrian Girl. After what happened in Libya the mainstream media should boycott AP.

      Reply
    • Mick 31/05/12 #

      @ Kitalpha

      Thanks for the recommendation, I’ve given up a long time ago trying to explain to the sheeple that the main stream media in the west is controlled by Zionist interests.
      I could barely even get people to watch PressTV for the other side of the story (before the west jammed their broadcasts)

      It’s much easier for them to accept that “evil” Assad / Gadaffi / Ahmadinejad or whoever hates the west and routinely kill civilians, even try mentioning that Mercenaries from Qatar/Bahrain/Saudi Arabia are the majority of the “rebels” and they call you crazy…..

      Reply
  • http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/31/thousands-flee-extreme-violence-congo

    Where is the military intervention here? oh wait…………..

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  • Very like the league of nations approach to the second world war, appeasement doesn’t work

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  • #Cormac C, I didn’t mention military intervention, I criticised russia and china in vetoing tougher sanctions against a regime that is reacting in blind and brutal panic to a change in the social order. Of course there are other conflicts in the world, but this is a new one, taking place in a previously peaceful (ish) country, and at the behest of a despot who still holds standing with two major world powers. Were they to pull him up, he would be forced to enter negotiations and end the slaughter of civilians. I absolutely agree with your criticism of how selective the media is on what is reported, but my comment was not about any other world issue.

    Reply

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