UN Delivers Bleak Assessment on Syria, Calls for International Action

June 07, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

Kofi Annan, the joint United Nations-Arab League envoy to Syria, has admitted that his peace plan is failing and that the country's future will consist of "brutal suppression, massacres, sectarian violence and even all-out civil war" if it continues on its current path. In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Annan confirmed that massacres of civilians have taken place in the towns of Houla and al-Qubayr. While not assigning blame for the mass killings, the former UN secretary general said that the government, not the armed opposition, had the "first responsibility" to halt violence. Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey reports from the UN Headquarters in New York.

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Syrian Civil War

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for his founding of the Global AIDS and Health F... Explore this topic

Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before becoming Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic servic... Explore this topic

Syria

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, i... Explore this topic

2012 al-Qubair massacre

The al-Kubeir massacre, also known as the Hama massacre, was a massacre in the village of al-Kubeir near Hama, Syria on 6 June 2012 during the country's ongoing civil conflict. Activists and witnesses stated that scores of civilians, including children, had been killed by pro-... Explore this topic

Civil war

A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a re... Explore this topic

Houla massacre

The Houla massacre was an attack that took place on May 25, 2012, in two opposition-controlled villages in the Houla Region of Syria. According to UN observers, 108 people were killed, including 25 men, 34 women, and 49 children. Major General Robert Mood, head of the United N... Explore this topic

Bashar Jaafari

Bashar Jaafari, also Ja'afari, is the current Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Explore this topic

UN Secretary-General

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, abbreviated UNSG, is the head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations. The current Secretary... Explore this topic

Kofi Annan peace plan for Syria

The Kofi Annan peace plan for Syria or the six-point peace plan for Syria, launched in February 2012, is considered the most serious international attempt to resolve the Syrian civil war in the Middle East diplomatically. The peace plan enforced a cease-fire to take place acro... Explore this topic

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Syrian Civil War

Kofi Annan

Ban Ki-moon

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