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U.N. SYRIA MISSION TO END, NEW BLOW TO PEACE EFFORTS

By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols
August 17, 20123:37 AM GMT+2Updated 12 years ago
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By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations' four-month-old observer mission
in Syria will withdraw from the country next week, diplomats and U.N. officials
said on Thursday, yet another blow to the world body's efforts to broker an end
to the conflict.
"The mandate of UNSMIS is over on the 19th of August ... UNSMIS will fade out,"
said French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud, who is the president of the Security
Council for the month of August.
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Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting of the council, he said
conditions for renewing the mandate of the observer mission in Syria, known as
UNSMIS, had not been met.
The death of UNSMIS cast further doubt on the viability of outgoing
international mediator Kofi Annan's moribund six-point peace plan for Syria.
Some Western diplomats describe that plan as doomed, while others suggest it
could still be salvaged.
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Annan, a former U.N. secretary-general and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, will step
down on August 31. He has criticized the 15-nation council for failing to agree
on steps that could have pressured Syria's government and rebels to stop
fighting.
Veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi has agreed to replace Annan as the
international mediator on Syria but with an altered mandate, U.N. sources said
on Thursday.

Envoys said he has demanded "strong support" from the Security council and a
source familiar with the situation said that Brahimi would not continue with
Annan's "failed approach.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Annan's peace plan was still
relevant. He added that the permanent Security Council members - Russia, China,
the United States, France and Britain - and key regional players would meet on
Syria in New York on Friday morning to discuss the crisis.

"We're sorry that the UNSMIS mandate is coming to an end," Churkin told
reporters. "We believe that those members of the council who insisted that
UNSMIS can't continue did not really show commitment to ending hostilities and
to working toward a political settlement in Syria."
Russia had repeatedly called for the monitors to remain in Syria. But the United
States opposed keeping them in the country as long as Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad's forces escalated their 17-month-old onslaught against an increasingly
well armed, experienced and determined opposition.

Moscow, with the aid of Beijing, has vetoed three resolutions criticizing and
threatening sanctions against Syria. That has led to an impasse on the council,
Western envoys say. Moscow blames the deadlock on Washington and its allies,
saying they are supporting the rebels in pursuit of "regime change."
'THE PATH OF WAR'
The Security Council said last month it would only renew the mandate of UNSMIS,
which was deployed in April to monitor a truce that never took hold, if the
world body confirmed a "cessation of the use of heavy weapons and a reduction in
the level of violence by all sides sufficient" for it to operate.
In an August 10 letter to the Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon said this has not been achieved and the mission "has not been able to
exercise its key functions of monitoring the cessation of violence."
Deputy U.N. peacekeeping chief Edmond Mulet told reporters that the mission's
legal mandate would expire at midnight New York time on Sunday and the last
military observers would be out of Syria by August 24.
"It is clear that both sides have chosen the path of war, open conflict and the
space for political dialogue and cessation of hostilities and mediation is very,
very reduced at this point, but that doesn't mean we should not be engaged in
that," Mulet told reporters after privately briefing the council.
"The situation on the ground is extremely difficult," he said. "But the fact
that it's difficult doesn't mean that we should not face that challenge of
trying to open those political spaces in the future."
The mission's initial 300 unarmed observers suspended most of their activity on
June 16 because of increased risk from rising violence. UNSMIS now has over 70
civilian staff working issues such as aid access and monitoring human rights
abuses.
Mulet said UNSMIS would be replaced with a U.N. political liaison office with 20
to 30 people, including military advisers and human rights, aid and de-mining
experts.
Churkin said Friday's meeting of the so-called "Action Group" on Syria in New
York would take place at 11:00 a.m. EDT. In addition to Russia, China, the
United States, Britain and France, it will include regional players like Turkey,
Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq.
Saudi Arabia and Iran, which did not participate in a ministerial meeting of the
group in July, will not take part in Friday's ambassadorial level session,
Churkin said. The group's July meeting ended with an agreement to revive Annan's
peace plan and urged the government and rebels to stop fighting.
Syria says Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are arming the rebels. Washington and
its allies say that Russia, Assad's chief arms supplier, and Iran are propping
up the Syrian government by providing it with military support and munitions.

Editing by Xavier Briand and Vicki Allen

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