UN's Ban Urges Security Council to Act 'Seriously' on Syria Crisis
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January 16, 2012 VOA News United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging the Security Council to take "serious" action against Syria, where he states casualties from a 10-thirty day period opposition uprising have reached "unacceptable" ranges. Speaking Monday on a visit to Abu Dhabi, Ban appealed to the Council to act in a "coherent" way in resolving the Syrian crisis. Western powers have been pushing the body for months to condemn the Syrian government's violent suppression of the uprising, but Russia and China have blocked such action. Russia is a military ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and insists that any Council action should focus on not just the Assad government but also the opposition motion demanding an end to his 11-year autocratic rule. Russian Deputy International Minister M.L. Bogdanov discussed the situation in Syria with his U.S. counterpart William Burns in Moscow on Monday. The Russian international ministry states Bogdanov stressed a need for other nations to respect Syria's sovereignty and help the Syrian people to peacefully settle their own crisis. Ban Ki-moon praised the Arab League for holding a dialogue with Mr. Assad and sending observers to Syria last thirty day period to check on the president's pledges to stop cracking down on protesters and release detained activists. The U.N. chief said he hopes the Arab League will continue those efforts. U.N. spokesman Eduardo del Buey said Monday that a small group of U.N. human rights experts will journey to Cairo to train the Arab League observers this week, at the request of the regional bloc. Syrian opposition activists have criticized the observer mission, saying the Syrian government is deceiving it and using the monitors as a cover to intensify security functions against the opposition. A Syrian parliament member representing the central town of Homs defected to the opposition late Sunday, making the announcement from Cairo in an interview with the Al-Arabiya television network. Imad Ghalioun said Homs, a hub of the uprising, is in a state of "disaster" and its people have endured major rights violations at the hands of pro-Assad forces. In another sign of growing domestic stress on Assad, notable Syrian opposition group the Syrian Nationwide Council states it has reached an agreement to boost coordination with Syrian army defectors known as the Free Syrian Army. In a assertion Monday, the SNC states it will cooperate with the Syrian rebels on issues such as accommodating new defectors within the rebel army. The Syrian government blames the uprising on armed terrorists. Syrian state-run news agency SANA states terrorists shot and killed a Syrian brigadier general as he was driving to work Monday. SANA also states five security personnel were buried Monday after being killed in combating with rebels in the Damascus countryside and the northeastern area of Deir el-Zour. The United Nations states violence connected to the uprising has killed more than 5,000 people. Syria states "terrorists" have killed about 2,000 members of the security forces since the unrest.