Delay
of
UN Observers
to Syria
Called
Ridiculous,
Unorthodox
Ways Sought
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 24 --
After UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous told
the Security
Council he
would take a
full month get
only 100
observers to
Syria, he was
told by at
least two
Permanent
members
that that was
far too slow.
Inner
City Press
spoke
exclusively
with Chinese
Ambassador Li
Baodong after
the
briefing by
Kofi Annan and
Ladsous. Li
Baodong told
Inner City
Press, "I
think we
should deploy
observers as
soon as
possible.
Kofi needs
that, the
people in
Syria need
that. Let
people go to
Syria to
monitor the
situation."
Having
been told
the "one
hundred in one
month" figure
by another
delegation,
Inner City
Press asked Li
Baodong what
China thought
of
that pace.
"We
believe
too slow,
ridiculous,"
replied Li
Baodong,
adding that
this pace
"undermines
the mission."
So
what excuses
did Ladsous
give?
Li
Baodong said,
"he said they
don't have
enough people,
troop
contributing
countries, and
also they need
training."
Responding
to
another
question from
Inner City
Press, Li
Baodong
concluded,
"China
would like to
send some
[observers,
to] join that
mission."
Moments
later,
Russian
Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin
told the press
that, "we need
to try to see
what can be
done in order
to deploy the
monitors
quicker than
currently
anticipated...
So far there
are just
twelve
monitors and I
think a number
of colleagues
including
myself simply
urged them to
look for some
unorthodox
ways to
expedite the
process."
The
UN should be
able to handle
this. Some say
that if the
observers are
deployed it
might have the
effect of
making Assad
staying in
power more
likely.
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