Arab League-UN joint mission proposed to end Syrian bloodshed

China National News Thursday 9th February, 2012

DAMASCUS - An Arab League-UN joint mission to violence-wracked Syria could be in the offing with the League putting forward such a proposal, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said.

Ban has also slammed the "disastrous" failure by countries to agree to a UN resolution on Syria, which he said had encouraged Damascus "to step up its war on its own people". Russia, an ally of Syria, and China had blocked the resolution last week.

The UN chief spoke even as reports came in of more than 60 civilian deaths Wednesday, mainly in Homs, Syria's third-largest city that has become a flashpoint of the unrest against President Bashar al-Assad.

The deaths were caused when gunfire, mortars and shells rained down on anti-government protesters at dawn and continued all day.

A car bomb explosion in the central city killed and wounded many civilians as well as security officers, reports said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 50 people were killed in Homs on Wednesday.

Ban said the "appalling brutality" of the government's artillery assault on Homs "is a grim harbinger of worse to come."

Speaking at the UN, Ban said that Arab League chief Nabil el-Arabi had told him that he intended to revive the observer mission in Syria. The Arab League mission had collapsed last month as violence began to rise.

According to Ban, the Arab League chief had proposed a joint UN-Arab League observer mission, including a joint special envoy.

"In the coming days we will further consult with the council before fleshing out details," Ban said.

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who met Assad on Tuesday, said later that the Syrian leader was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed.

The US has categorically rejected Russia's urging for talks between the Assad regime and the opposition.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Assad had missed the "opportunity" for dialogue.

"From the (earliest) days of this situation in Syria, there was an opportunity for the Assad regime to engage in dialogue with the opposition," Carney said.

"Rather than take that opportunity, Assad brutally cracked down on his own people. We don't think that that opportunity is available any more."

The UN resolution had backed an Arab League peace plan that envisaged Assad handing over power to a deputy to oversee a transition.