New head of UN Syria mission

Veteran UN peacekeeper Major General Robert Mood was on his way to Damascus after being officially appointed head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Syria by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday.

Mood takes over the reins of the observer mission as the UN-brokered ceasefire in Syria shows few signs of actually being implemented; his trip comes a day after a deadly suicide bomb explosion rocked Damascus and killed at least 11 people, further undermining the shaky two-week-old truce in the country.

Currently there are 15 observers in the country, and Kofi Annan spokesman said the UN hopes the number will rise to 25 by Monday and 100 by mid-May. The maximum number of observers set by the UN is 300.

Before his appointment, Mood, a Norwegian national, was the Inspector General Veteran Affairs of the Norwegian Armed Forces, UN Truce Supervision Organization Head of Mission and Chief of Staff and Chief of Staff of the Norwegian Army. He participated in the UN's mission in Kosovo twice between 1999 and 2002.

Since the official announcement of his appointment, he has not made any comments to the media, but in a recent interview with a Norwegian newspaper he said the mission is "worth making the effort" because "the Syrian people deserve to have an opportunity.

Some Western nations, including the United States, France and Britain, are skeptical that the UN observer mission will do any good since there are no signs of the violence in Syria stopping.

The UN estimates that over 9,000 people have been killed since the clash between opposition fighters and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad began last March.

mz/sb (AFP, AP)