Ban, Annan Condemn 'Brutal' Syria Massacre
U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon and U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday condemned a massacre of more than 90 civilians in Syria as a "brutal" breach of international law by the government, a spokesman said.
Ban and Annan "condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children" at Houla, said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.
"This appalling and brutal crime, involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force, is a flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centers and violence in all its forms.
"Those responsible for perpetrating this crime must be held to account," the U.N. secretary general and the special envoy added.
The U.N. mission said 92 bodies, 32 of them children aged less than 10, had been found in Houla after the artillery offensive.
Ban and Annan reaffirmed that U.N. observers who went to Houla had "viewed the bodies of the dead and confirmed from an examination of ordnance that artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential neighborhood."
The massacre will heighten the importance of a trip that Annan is to make to Syria in coming days. The U.N. Security Council is to discuss Syria on Wednesday.
Ban and Annan again demanded that President Bashar Assad end all violence in line with the six-point plan he agreed with the envoy.
"The Joint Special Envoy is contacting the Syrian authorities to convey in the clearest terms the expectations of the international community, and he will also do so during his forthcoming visit to Syria," the U.N. statement said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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