Despite Annan efforts, US hell-bent on regime change in Syria

The UN-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan (R) speaks to the press next to his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi in Geneva on May 8, 2012 after a videoconference briefing with the United Nations Security Council.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/240260.html

Despite efforts by the UN-Arab League envoy, Kofi Annan to settle the issues in Syria, the United States says it is still after regime change in the country.

A few hours after Annan briefed the UN Security Council (UNSC) by videoconference from Geneva on Tuesday on his efforts to end the year-plus-long unrest in Syria, US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice reiterated Washington’s call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Rice claimed that Damascus has not fully implemented any part of Annan's six-point peace plan, noting that “Washington is focusing on a regime change in Damascus.”

Annan asked both government troops and armed groups to stop the bloodshed, and reiterated that dialog is the only solution to the unrest.

“They should think of the people, who have been caught in the middle for about fifteen months,…my appeal to those with guns, my appeal to those who have taken -- I was going to say the people prisoners, because, in a way, they are frightened -- is to really think of them, think of the people, think of Syria, think of the region and disarm and come to the table,” he said.

He also stated that his plan is the only chance for preventing a civil war in the country, saying, “What we have to do is to do our best and hope that the better forces in us will prevail and lead us to put down the arms and do what is right. If it fails...it will not affect only Syria, it will have an impact on the whole region. This is why we should all be so concerned for the Syrians, for Syria, and for a region that for geopolitical reasons we should all be concerned about.”

After Annan’s briefing, Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari accused foreign countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, of plotting to sabotage Annan's plan by fueling the violence.

“We need to see everybody on board. We need to see these Qataris, the Saudis, the Turkish government, as well as some other nations, stopping their incitement to violence, stopping their sponsorship of…the armed rebellion in Syria, stopping their financial contribution to cover up the needs of these armed groups and the needs of the terrorist groups, which are attacking…civilians as well as military targets in Syria” he said.

Jaafari also stated that his country was committed to the plan.

Meanwhile, the UN observers continue monitoring a ceasefire, which has officially been in effect as part of the peace plan for more than three weeks.

The first group of the observers arrived in the Syrian capital on late April 15 in line with the UNSC Resolution 2042, which had been approved a day earlier.

On April 21, the council met and unanimously approved Resolution 2043, which ratified a proposal to send a mission of 300 observers to Syria.