The UN should send 300 monitors to Syria as soon as possible to try to stop a wave of killing and violence that a ceasefire has failed to halt,? Annan’s Spokesman said.
Seven unarmed UN observers are in Syria monitoring a week-old truce, with two to follow on Monday, and the full advance team of 30 due to be deployed in the coming week, the spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, said.
But preparations are already under way for the arrival of up to 300 more observers, whose deployment he said he hoped the UN Security Council would approve in the next two to three days.
“We are preparing for the deployment because we feel that it is going to happen sooner or later because it must happen,’’ Fawzi said.
“The situation on the ground is not good, as we all know. It's a very fragile ceasefire, there are casualties every day, there are incidents every day, and we have to do everything we can to stop what's going on – the killing, the violence in all forms,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a progress report on Thursday, said Syria had not fully withdrawn its troops and heavy weapons from towns as agreed under Annan's peace plan to end 13 months of violence.
He recommended raising the number of observers to up to 300.
Like in all UN peacekeeping operations, the monitors require support, including vehicles, communications equipment and medical supplies, “all kinds of gear to help them in their very difficult and risky job’’, Fawzi said.
“As soon as the Security Council adopts a resolution authorising up to 300 monitors on the ground, we will be ready to deploy very, very rapidly,’’ he added.?