Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


    April 29, 2012

UN: More Observers Needed 'Quickly' in Syria

   VOA News
   United Nations observers travel from the UN office in Damascus to Douma
   April 26, 2012.
   Photo: Reuters
   United Nations observers travel from the UN office in Damascus to Douma
   April 26, 2012.

   The U.N. says it is in dire need of more peace observers to deploy
   quickly in Syria.
   The world body has so far deployed about a dozen permanent observers to
   several towns throughout the country, far fewer than the 300 approved
   by the Security Council.
   U.N. spokesman Neeraj Singh said Sunday in Damascus it is "a matter of
   utmost urgency" for the U.N., and all efforts must be made to make sure
   observers are "on the ground as quickly as possible." He made the
   comments hours ahead of the expected arrival of Norwegian peacekeeper
   Major-General Robert Mood to take charge of the U.N. observer mission.
   The international body now has observers in Homs, Hama, Daraa and
   Idlib. The monitors are struggling to promote a peace plan under which
   a cease-fire is to lead to talks by all sides on a political solution
   to the country's 13-month conflict.
   The Syrian government and opposition activists have traded accusations
   of deadly violence.
   Clashes between government troops and rebel soldiers continued in the
   Latakia region and the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday amid reports
   of fresh desertions to the rebel side. Witnesses say at least 10 people
   were killed.
   Syria's official state news agency SANA said that a loyalist military
   unit thwarted an attempt by armed rebels "to infiltrate from the sea"
   in Latakia.

   In neighboring Lebanon, the country's navy intercepted a ship that was
   reported to be carrying weapons from Libya to Syrian rebels. Lebanese
   authorities removed three containers from the ship they said contained
   shells, rockets, grenade launchers and other materials.
   The Syrian government has complained repeatedly that weapons are being
   smuggled from neighboring countries to help the rebels. The rebels say
   that Syrian allies Iran and Russia have been arming the Syrian
   military.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
   Join the conversation on our social journalism site - [1]
   Middle East Voices. Follow our Middle East reports on [2]Twitter and
   discuss them on our [3]Facebook page.

References

   1. http://middleeastvoices.com/
   2. http://twitter.com/#!/mideastvoice
   3. http://www.facebook.com/pages/VOAMiddleEastVoices/124360240958667?%20%20%20%20v=wall

.