Ban calls for new UN Syria role

The United Nations may be set to reduce the number of personnel deployed in Syria due to the escalating violence in the country.

In a report to the UN Security Council, which was obtained by several news agencies, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the nature of the mission should also be changed, with around 100 civilian personnel replacing the approximately 300 observers currently in Syria.

He said the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) should shift from military observers monitoring a cease-fire that has never been fully implemented to civilian staff focusing their efforts on the search for a political resolution to the conflict.

"If UNSMIS were re-oriented in this manner, the mission would redeploy from the field to the capital (Damascus) to minimize risks, retaining core civilian and military observer capacities to focus on the spectrum of initiatives feeding into the political process," the report said.  

"A reduced military observer component would support these civilian-led activities with military liaison and, as it does now, conduct visits to incident sites to conduct fact-finding and verification tasks," it added.

Ban argued that this approach could help build support for a six-point peace plan drawn up by UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan. The largely ignored cease-fire is meant to be the first phase of that plan.

However, Ban also conceded that there would be drawbacks to the new approach he suggested.

"At a minimum, it implies that establishment of a sustained cessation of violence is not an immediate prospect, and limits observation and reporting capacity concerning violations of a reputed cessation of violence accordingly," Ban said.

He also outlined other possible options including leaving the mission as it is, or a complete withdrawal – something he specifically warned against.

"It would likely precipitate a further blow to efforts to stabilize the situation on the ground, and render the prospect of a negotiated Syrian-led transition… more difficult," he said.

Urgent decision required

The Security Council is expected to review the observer mission's role at a meeting on Wednesday, and it needs to make a decision on its future role before July 20, when its current mandate expires.

The unarmed military observers suspended most of their monitoring activities three weeks ago due to increased risks amid the escalating violence in the country.

On Thursday, the head of the mission, Norwegian Major General Robert Mood said his observers could not fully resume their work until the cease-fire was implemented. He also described the level of violence in the country as being at an "unprecedented level."

Ban's report to the Security Council came just hours after a meeting of the international “Friends of Syria” wrapped up in Paris without any tangible result.

pfd/ch (Reuters, AP, dpa)