Kofi
Annan Quits as Syria Peace Envoy
Kofi
Annan is stepping down as UN-Arab League envoy for the Syria conflict
at the end of the month, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said
in a statement,
as talks began to find a successor.
2
August, 2012
“Kofi
Annan deserves our profound admiration for the selfless way in which
he has put his formidable skills and prestige to this most difficult
and potentially thankless of assignments,” Ban said.
But
Annan was not so genial. He blamed “finger pointing and name
calling” at the UN Security Council for his decision to quit.
Annan’s
plan was viable in and of itself, but it became unworkable because
both sides in the Syria conflict were backed by foreign powers, which
meant neither side felt they needed to compromise.
Foreign
meddling on
behalf of all sides has been instrumental in prolonging
the conflict by emboldening both sides and
making a political settlement more remote. While Russia and Iran
continue to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,
the US and its allies in Europe and the Persian Gulf states continue
to aid and weaponize the Syrian rebels.
Annan
had said as much last month, explaining that while Russia had
received a lot of criticism for continuing to back the violent
President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, “very few things are said
about other countries that send arms and money and weigh on the
situation on the ground.”
“Syria
indeed has become an arena for outside meddling, but the meddling has
been far more effective at sustaining the fighting than ending it,”
says a report from
the International Crisis Group. “Because the mission’s success
was predicated on finding middle ground when most parties yearned for
a knockout punch, few truly wished it well, even as no one wanted to
be caught burying it.”
UN
rights chief Navi Pillay last week condemned the
continued flow of weapons from foreign powers to both sides in the
Syrian conflict. “The ongoing provision of arms to the Syrian
government and to its opponents feeds additional violence,” she
said in the text of remarks made to the Security Council. “Any
further militarization of the conflict must be avoided at all costs.”
The
support has continued even though outside powers are well aware that
both sides in the conflict have committed serious atrocities and
human rights abuses and despite the fact that experts have repeatedly
said such policies are worsening the conflict.
James
Dobbins, director of the RAND International
Security and Defense Policy Center and a former US assistant
secretary of state told
NPR recently,
“the external environment in which sides are providing arms to both
of the contending parties—all of that suggests that the situation’s
going to continue to deteriorate.”
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