Ultimatums: Syria peace plan ’last chance’ to avoid war, says Annan

Ultimatums: Syria peace plan ’last chance’ to avoid war, says Annan
2012 05 09

UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has told the Security Council that his peace plan could be the "last chance to avoid civil war" in Syria.

He told a closed session that the plan was "not an open-ended commitment" and highlighted continuing violations.

The Syrian army is now using fewer heavy arms, he said, but human rights violations appear to be intensifying.

His comments come after the Red Cross appealed for an extra $27m (£17m) to fund its Syria operation this year.

Video from: YouTube.com

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the only international aid agency working inside Syria, says hundreds of thousands of people remain in need of humanitarian assistance.

Rapid deployment urged

Mr Annan told the Security Council he was particularly concerned that torture, mass arrests and other human rights violations were "intensifying".

He also told the council that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad bore "primary responsibility" for ending the military campaign.

After the briefing, he told a news conference that the ceasefire-monitoring mission was "the only remaining chance" to stabilise Syria.

[...]

There are no clear figures about how many people have been detained since the conflict began, but the ICRC believes there are likely to be many thousands, most of whom have had no access to lawyers or to their families.

[...]

Read the full article at: bbc.co.uk

Ed Note: The violence must be stopped! Don’t force us to use force! Regime change is a must in Syria, (and Iraq, and Libya, and Egypt).

Meanwhile in Bahrain...

Police uses violence to break up May Day demonstrations
From: AsiaNews.it

Tear gas and stun grenades are used to stop peaceful demonstrations. Almost 600 people have lost their jobs for taking part in last year’s protests. In jail for the past year, Arab spring Shia activist al-Khawaja continues his hunger strike.

Police used tear gas and stun grenades against hundreds of demonstrators who took to the streets of Shiite villages in Bahrain on May Day to demand their reinstatement in the jobs from which they were fired during last year’s Arab spring uprising. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested. The rallies were organised by the 14 February youth movement.

According to the Bahrain Labour Union, almost 600 workers were fired from private and public sector jobs for taking part in the uprising.

Meanwhile, human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja continues his hunger strike. He was arrested almost a year ago and has been kept in isolation ever since.

According to Human Rights Watch, the authorities have not yet provided any evidence that he was involved in subverting the state or linked to terrorist groups.

Yesterday, al-Khawaja said that he would pursue his hunger strike until the government releases all the people it has arrested.

For its part, the government announced plans to put on trial 20 medics on charges of incitement to overthrow the government and trying to occupy a hospital. Rights groups said that the 20 were arrested for treating protesters wounded by security forces last year.

The majority of the people of Bahrain are Shia, but the country is ruled by a Sunni royal family, an ally of Saudi Arabia.

For more than a year, people have demanded constitutional reforms and the removal of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifah ibn Salman al-Khalifah, who has been in office since 1971.

In March 2011, the Shia opposition organised a popular revolt in the wake of the Arab spring.

In order to end the demonstrations, the government called on its Saudi ally for help. Saudi Special Forces were sent in with the power to use lethal force against demonstrators. Twenty-four people, including four police officers were killed.

[...]

Read the full article at: asianews.it

And the world remains silent.

Meanwhile in Palestine...

Share |

Latest News from our Front Page

BBC, UK media told to shut up in the name of national security
2013 06 19
MoD serves news outlets with D notice over surveillance leaks BBC and other media groups issued with D notice to limit publication of information that could ’jeopardise national security’ Defence officials issued a confidential D notice to the BBC and other media groups in an attempt to censor coverage of surveillance tactics employed by intelligence agencies in the UK and US. Editors were ...

Uri Geller psychic spy? The spoon-bender’s secret life as a Mossad and CIA agent revealed
2013 06 19
A new documentary claims the showbiz psychic is involved in global espionage - and that after 9/11 he was ’reactivated’ as a pyschic spy. We may know him for spoon bending antics and for his lengthy friendship with pop star Michael Jackson but showbiz psychic Uri Geller has seemingly had a lengthy second career as a secret agent for Mossad ...

Confirmed: 1-Billion-Year-Old Water Tastes ’Terrible’
2013 06 19
Saltier than sea water and the consistency of "very light maple syrup." Yuck. Last month, a paper published in Nature reported on some water that had been trapped 1.5 miles below the Earth’s surface in Canada for a long while. How long? Based on an analysis of the isotopes of natural gases in the water, scientists believe it to be ...

The Govt Is Spying on America with Drones, Too
2013 06 19
In an alarming but hardly shocking admission, FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed that drones have been used to conduct surveillance in the US, though he was quick to reassure citizens that it was ’very seldom’. He did not disclose the particulars of the surveillance to the Senate hearing being held on Wednesday (June 19, 2013), but went on to characterize ...

TWA Flight 800 Investigators Claim the Official Crash Story Is a Lie
2013 06 19
A new film claims the official government report on the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996 is an elaborate fabrication, but the most shocking part of the story is that charges are being leveled by some of the very investigators who put the report together. Six experts who appear in the film were members of the National Transportation Safety ...

More News »