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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

The Grand Turk
Erdogan Says Turkey Will Increase Troop Numbers in Cyprus
2018-09-18
Sultans gotta sultan.
[AnNahar] Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
has vowed that Ankara will increase rather than reduce its troops numbers in Cyprus, a move that could further set back attempts to reunify the divided Mediterranean island.

In comments published in Ottoman Turkish media Monday, Erdogan added that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
had no need for a naval base on Cyprus as mooted in some reports but could establish such a facility if it was necessary from a "psychological" point of view.

"No, we are not going to reduce the numbers of our troops. We will increase them, we are not going to decrease them," he told Ottoman Turkish news hounds traveling back with him from a trip to Azerbaijan.

He expressed impatience over the Cyprus issue, saying "this business would have been solved" if the Greek Cypriots had backed unification in an April 2004 referendum on a plan put forward by the late former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
While Ottoman Turkish Cypriots were overwhelmingly in favour of the plan, Greek Cypriots voted against.

"Henceforth we will implement the formula that we have declared for ourselves," said Erdogan, without elaborating.

Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 Ottoman Turkish invasion which occupied the northern third of the island in response to a Greek military junta-sponsored coup.

Turkey is believed to maintain around 35,000 troops in northern Cyprus, although the military does not give official figures.

The withdrawal -- or drastic reduction -- of Turkey's military presence is seen as key to any reunification plan being acceptable to the Greek Cypriot side.

Some conservative Ottoman Turkish media have also reported in recent weeks that Turkey was planning to open a naval base on Cyprus, a move that would likely deal a terminal blow to any reunification hopes.

But Erdogan said "we have no need to build a base there," noting that unlike Greece, Turkey was just "minutes away" from the coast of Cyprus.

But he appeared to leave the door open to such a move as a way of making a political statement.

"This issue just has a psychological dimension. In this respect, if we felt the need, we could establish a base. Our presence there is important," Erdogan said.

There were high hopes at the beginning of 2017 that U.N.-backed talks could clinch a breakthrough in the long-running stalemate on reuniting the island.

But the deadlock has not been broken and analysts say rapid progress is unlikely for the moment as Erdogan reaches out to the nationalist electorate in Turkey.
Link


Southeast Asia
Myanmar will take back displaced Rohingyas
2017-10-25
[Dhaka Tribune] Myanmar has agreed to the repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland and implementation of the recommendations made by the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State.

Dhaka and Naypyidaw
...generally translated as royal capital, seat of the king or abode of kings because the general in charge had a massive ego. It was founded in 2002 because Rangoon was worn out. Traditionally, Naypyidaw was used as a suffix to the names of royal capitals, such as Mandalay, which was called Yadanabon Naypyidaw in Burmese...
will form a joint working group in this regard by November 30, reports BSS.

It said the decisions were taken at a home minister-level bilateral meeting between Bangladesh and Myanmar officials on security and law enforcement matters in Naypyidaw on Tuesday.

Apart from discussing cooperation and security and law enforcement issues, both sides also signed two Memorandums of Understandings during the meeting, BSS reported quoting a message from Home Ministry spokesperson Sharif Mahmood Apu sent from Naypyidaw.

One of them was on setting up a Border Liaison Office and the other on Security Cooperation and Dialogue, he said.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who flew to Myanmar on Monday, is leading a delegation to hold talks with the neighbouring country on a number of unresolved issues including the ongoing Rohingya crisis.

Sharif also said that the minister was scheduled to make a courtesy call on Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi at 10am (local time) on Wednesday.

The Bangladesh delegation is expected to return home on Wednesday ending their three-day visit.

Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
heads the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State that released the report on August 24, only one day before the Myanmar security forces’ crackdown was launched in response to attacks on several police outpost and an army base in Rakhine.

Link


Bangladesh
PM: Myanmar must take the Rohingya back
2017-09-12
[Dhaka Tribune] Prime Minister the loathesome Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums..
has again urged Myanmar to take back the Rohingya people currently residing in Bangladesh, stressing that measures taken by the Bangladesh government to provide refuge to the Rohingya are temporary.

Speaking at parliament on Monday, the prime minister said: "Several times, I have requested Myanmar to repatriate the Rohingya as they are their nationals." She further added that she would raise the issue with the UN General Assembly.

"There are about 145 ethnic communities in Myanmar. The Myanmar government had given the Rohingya the same rights as other ethnic communities, but later the Myanmar junta hijacked their rights. I do not understand why the Myanmar government is doing this to the Rohingya," the prime minister said.

"I would like to ask the Myanmar government: What result do they expect after forcing the Rohingya people out of their homeland?"

Hasina also asked why Myanmar was not following the recommendations set by the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State led by Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
, saying since Myanmar had created the problem, they also needed to resolve it.

She also urged the authorities concerned to swiftly locate and bring to justice those responsible for the attacks on border outposts on August 25 that led to the renewed violence against the minority Rohingya people in the Buddhist-majority Rakhine state.

The prime minister further assured that the Rohingya would not be obstructed from entering Bangladesh.

"We are providing food to 160 million people, we can manage food for an additional 700,000," she said at parliament.

However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go...
she was also quick to clarify that she wished for them to return to their homeland.

"Myanmar has to consider the Rohingya Myanmar nationals. A Myanmar general called them Bangalis. Of course, they are Bangalis. But there are Bangalis in India, too. The measures we have taken to shelter the Rohingya are temporary. Myanmar must take back their nationals."
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India-Pakistan
Myanmar Says Taliban-Trained Militants behind Border Raids
2016-10-15
[AnNahar] A Pak Taliban-trained turban leader was behind deadly attacks in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine state that have sparked a military crackdown and sent thousands of terrified residents fleeing the area, Myanmar's president said Friday.

A little-known group called the Aqa Mul Mujahidin carried out the border post raids on Sunday that left nine coppers dead, the presidency said in a statement, linking it to a Rohingya turban outfit called the RSO experts have long considered defunct.

Its leader spent six months training with the Taliban in Pakistain and received funding from unspecified organizations in the Middle East, the statement added.

"The leader of the group is Hafiz Tohar, 45, from Kyauk Pyin Seik village, in Maungdaw township," said the statement, according to an English translation of the name from Burmese.

"He studied with the Taliban for six months in Pakistain."

Troops have poured into restive northern Rakhine since Sunday's raids, locking down an area where most residents are from Myanmar's persecuted Moslem Rohingya minority.

At least 26 civilians have died in the ensuing skirmishes -- rights groups say the army has been gunning down unarmed Rohingya on the streets, but the army says troops have been defending themselves against attackers.

Details of the killings and the ensuing lockdown by the military have proved difficult to confirm on the remote and tightly controlled area.

A front man purporting to represent the RSO has vigorously denied any links to the border raids in a statement sent to AFP.

- Hundreds of gunnies -
The violence has raised the specter of sectarian unrest in 2012 that ripped the impoverished state apart, leaving more than 100 dead and driving tens of thousands of Rohingya into squalid displacement camps.

Families have been streaming out of Maungdaw on foot, their worldly possessions stuffed into carrier bags and plastic buckets or strapped to the front of bicycle rickshaws.

Around 180 teachers, workers and residents were also airlifted out of the region on Thursday, while hundreds of government staff have poured into the state capital Sittwe.

AFP spoke to witnesses on Friday in Warpaik, a village close to where the first border post was raided and where the military said they discovered flags and scarves bearing the RSO logo the previous day.

One elderly resident, who asked not to be named for her safety, described being set upon by hundreds of gunnies: "About 500 or 600 people attacked in three places," she said.

"About 40 of us ran up a nearby hill with the children. We got hurt because we slipped and fell down as we ran," she said, showing injuries on her foot.

"They were shooting with guns. They only bravely ran away when soldiers arrived. If soldiers hadn't come, we would have all been killed."

- 'Jihad videos' -
She identified the attackers from videos that have been circulating on social media that appear to show a group of armed Rohingya men calling for Moslems around the world to rise up in jihad in support of their cause.

The three unverified videos, all shot in what appear to be rice fields and bamboo jungles similar to the landscapes along the Myanmar and Bangladesh border, have sparked concern that some from the hitherto largely peaceful group may be becoming radicalized.

The Rohingya's plight has long been a rallying call for international jihadist organizations including the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group and Pakistain's Taliban, but there has been little evidence that jihadist ideology has taken root among them.

"The videos appear to be entirely authentic," said Anthony Davis, a security analyst with IHS-Jane's, pointing out the front man was using the Rohingya's Chittagong dialect of Bengali and carrying weapons like those authorities say were used in the border guard raids.

"The footage shows what appear to be a rabble of typical Rohingya youths -- poorly dressed, ill-equipped and apparently untrained."

An aide of Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, did not confirm whether the videos were real, but said the government "doesn't feel worried" about it.

The violence in Rakhine has posed a challenge to her newly elected government, which took power in March from a military junta that ruled the country for 50 years.

Facing international criticism for not doing more to help the Rohingya, she recently appointed a commission led by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
to investigate Rakhine's troubles.
Link


Africa North
Ban Ki-moon expected in Western Sahara refugee camps, liberated territories
2016-03-06
[APS.DZ] CHAHID Al-HAFEDH (Sahrawi refugee camps) - The United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon starts Saturday a visit to the refugee camps and the liberated territories of Bir Lehlou.

The visit is part of his tour in the region. The UN Chief is expected Sunday in Algeria to complete his report about the situation in Western Sahara, he will submit to the Security Council in next April.

After having been received on Friday in Nouakchott by Mauritanian President Mohammed Ould Abdelaziz, Ban Ki-moon said that his visit to the region aimed at re-launching negotiations for the settlement of Western Sahara conflict through a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people.

According to the plan of this fourth visit paid by a UN Secretary General after Perez De Cuellar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
, Ban will be welcomed at Tindouf Airport before joining the Sahrawi refugee camp in Smara where he will visit the "17 June School" managed by the UN Organization.

Besides, Ban will meet with Sahrawi young people and students from Smara camp.

The UN Chief will also meet with Polisario Front officials in the Chahid al-Hafedh refugee camp, notably President Mohammed Abdelaziz.
Link


-Obits-
Boutros-Ghali, first UN chief from Africa, dies
2016-02-17
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a veteran Egyptian diplomat who helped negotiate his country's landmark peace deal with Israel but then clashed with the United States when he served a single term as U.N. secretary-general, has died. He was 93.

Boutros-Ghali, the scion of a prominent Egyptian Christian political family, was the first U.N. chief from the African continent. He stepped into the post in 1992 at a time of dramatic world changes, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a unipolar era dominated by the United States.

But after four years of frictions with the Clinton administration, the United States blocked his renewal in the post in 1996, making him the only U.N. secretary-general to serve a single term. He was replaced by Ghanaian Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
The current president of the U.N. Security Council, Venezuelan Ambassador Rafael Ramirez, announced Boutros-Ghali's death at the start of a session Tuesday on Yemen's humanitarian crisis. The 15 council members stood in a silent tribute.

Boutros-Ghhali died Tuesday at a Cairo hospital, Egypt's state news agency said.
... and if you can't believe the state news agency who can you believe?
He had been admitted to the hospital after suffering a broken pelvis, the Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Thursday.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
Ban Urges Restraint after Clashes in Kashmir
2015-08-20
[ALMANAR.LB] United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
urged India and Pakistain on Wednesday to show restraint following festivities in the disputed region of Kashmire that have caused deaths on both sides.

"(Ban) expresses serious concern about the recent escalation of violence along the Line of Control between India and Pakistain, which reportedly resulted in a number of casualties on both sides, including civilians," the UN press office said in a statement.
And when Ban Ki Moon speaks everybody listens...
Ban said an upcoming meeting of the countries' security chiefs on August 23-24 in New Delhi could help bolster dialogue between the two countries, which have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmire.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
UN to start 'naming and shaming' peacekeeping countries involved in sexual abuse
2015-08-18
[RUDAW.NET] Following a recent Amnesia Amnesty International report that accused peacekeeping troops of raping a 12-year-old child and murdering two in Central African Republic, the U.N. Secretary General vowed to start "naming and shaming" countries whose troops have been involved in sexual abuse.

"The ultimate responsibility rests with governments who send their people, personnel," said U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
in a presser. "Before they are being deployed, they should educate and train them properly for the importance of human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
and human dignity,"

Rudaw asked the UN spokesperson if peacekeeping officials had covered up cases of sexual abuse in Africa, as it was widely reported in the media.

"I don't dispute the facts that you've just said," replied U.N. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. "Basically, the Secretary‑General himself became aware of this yesterday [August 11] and so did the big shot... you know, the peacekeeping officials here in New York became aware on 10 August, the day before the issuance of the blurb."

The U.N Chief asked head of the peacekeeping troops in Central African Republic Babacar Gaye to resign a day after the release of the Amnesia Amnesty International report.

"He has tendered his resignation at my request yesterday," Mr. Ban told news hounds. "Of course this may look like a very strong action for SRSG who has been working so honorably during many, many years in the UN system. But I really wanted to show a strong example and message to all the international community."

The U.N. Secretary General has meanwhile ordered a thorough investigation into all allegations of sexual abuse by the organization's peacekeeping troops in Africa and other regions around the world.

According to Dujarric, since the start of the UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic in April 2014, there have been "11 cases of sexual abuse and possible sexual abuses,"
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.N. seeks accountability on Syria gas attacks
2015-08-08
The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a U.S.-drafted resolution on Friday laying the groundwork for an inquiry that would assign blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria's civil war.

The resolution asks U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
and the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to make recommendations within 20 days for the establishment of an investigative body, "to identify to the greatest extent feasible individuals, entities, groups, or governments" involved in any chemical attacks in Syria.

The adoption of the resolution came after the U.S. struck a deal with Russia, a strong backer of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
, on a formal request to the U.N. to assemble a team of Sherlocks to lay blame for toxic gas attacks in Syria.
Link


Arabia
UN delivers health supplies to Aden; Houthis lose airport
2015-07-15
[ARABNEWS] The UN said on Tuesday it had delivered medical supplies to the southern Yemeni city of Aden, where fighting has badly disrupted health provision, but that food rations had been delayed.

The World Health Organization brought 46.4 tons of assistance including trauma kits, medicines to treat malaria and diarrheal diseases, and water and sanitation supplies for more than 84,000 people.

"It took us days and days and days to organize the safe passage ... But it did arrive in Aden last Saturday. It was the first time that we got a convoy into Aden for weeks," Johannes Van Der Klaauw, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, told a news briefing.

The UN convoy was to have included rations from the World Food Program "but the WFP trucks in the end were disconnected from that convoy" he said without elaborating.

Hunger and disease are threatening the 1 million residents of Aden, now a war zone caught between local faceless myrmidons and Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
fighters, aid agencies say.

The United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
says 21 million people need help, about 80 percent of the population of the country.

UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
is "very much disappointed" that a UN-brokered humanitarian pause in fighting did not take hold over the weekend, his front man said on Monday.

Van Der Klaauw said that the UN wanted to have aid ships dock in Aden. "But since the pause didn't take place, we still have a big problem that Aden is not reachable by sea. And it should be."

As vessels are diverted to the northern port of Hodeida, goods have to be taken by land to Aden and there is a perception "that vessels have only gone into that part of Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
which is in the hands of the de facto Houthi authorities."

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head...
Yemeni forces battling the Iranian catspaws in the country's south say they have taken control of the airport in Aden and that they have driven the rebels into a part of the city jutting out into the sea.

The advance is a major blow for the Houthis, basically trapping them on the small peninsula.

Ali Al-Ahmadi, the front man for the city's anti-rebel forces known as Aden Resistance Leadership Council, says the operation was coordinated with the Saudi-led coalition.

Also on Tuesday, the Saudi-led coalition carried out Arclight airstrikes in Sanaa.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Assad used superior language in Annan's meeting: Saudi Leaks
2015-07-09
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] A new Saudi diplomatic document was published among thousands in WikiLeaks, showed minutes of the meeting between basher al-Assad and Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
, the First United Nation's Envoy to Syria to resolve the Syrian crisis.

The letter was coded and showed that Basher al-Assad insisted on calling the rebels as "terrorist" and his war was against terrorism on behalf of the whole world, not against the opposition.

The letter explained that al-Assad used hidden threats and warning in his talk with Annan, like threatening of possible "huge bloodshed" if the regime withdrew its forces from the Syrian cities, although the meeting took place at time when the revolution was in its peaceful stage.

Despite the good and personal relationship between al-Assad and Annan, as the Saudi diplomatic letter mentioned, al-Assad used rebuking and blaming tone in his talk to Annan when he said "you have not done anything , you have not pressurised countries or other sides supporting the terrorist action in Syria" and a stronger language when he said: "before asking us to take any step forward, demand others to do so". Moreover, al-Assad Blamed Annan for being unfair in his reports to the United nation in regard to the Syrian crisis."

From his side, according to the coded Saudi diplomatic letter, Annan tried to reduce the tension and superiority in al-Assad's language, and put his solution in soft language, like requesting releasing detainees and handing them to the International observers, when al-Assad replied that prisoners' case would be dealt with according the Syrian way, and tribal prominent figures were looking after the matter.

In the same meeting, Bashar claimed that they had released many prisoners by amnesty decrees and demonstrating in Syria had become allowed like other countries.

Annan was he first Envoy to Syria to resolve the Syrian crisis, he started his mission in 23 February 2012, but he was not able to carry on for more than six months and resigned in 30-August in the same year and Lakhdar Brahimi followed him, who resigned later and followed by Staffan de Mistura.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
Russia warned Ban Ki-moon of supporting Friends of Syria Group: Saudi Cables
2015-07-04
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] An official diplomatic Saudi document published on WikiLeaks shows that Russia had practiced intimidation against the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
, the Secretary-General of the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
, if he attended the conference of the Group of Friends of the Syrian People ("the Friends' Group")in Tunisia 2012.

A letter sent from Ali Bin Mohammed al-Hamdan, the Saudi Ambassador in Sanaa to the Minister of foreign affairs, Saud Al Faisal, in which the Ambassador reported that Jamal Bin Omar, the special envoy to Yemen, told him about Ban Ki-moon and the phone call he received from Russia in which he was warned directly from attending the Syrian people's Friends conference in Tunisia.

Al-Hamdan mentioned that Ban Ki-moon was willing to visit the kingdom of Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and meet the Minister of Foreign Affairs to "explain to him some matters", according to the letter.

In February 2012, Tunisia hosted the fist conference for the Friends of Syria Group conference and many conferences followed, but it failed to help Syrian people and their devastating crisis.

WikiLeaks had 3 weeks ago started posting diplomatic Saudi documents counted roughly 60,000 files. Most of them appear to be in Arabic.

There was no immediate way to verify the authenticity of the documents, although WikiLeaks has a long track record of hosting large-scale leaks of government material. Many of the documents carried green letterhead marked "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" or "Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
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