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Syria welcomes new UN envoy as good-will sign

17 August 2012 00:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al- Moallem said on Thursday that his country welcomes the idea of appointing al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi as the new UN envoy to Syria, saying "we want to preserve the presence of the UN in Syria", APA reports quoting Xinhua

In an interview with the Syrian TV aired Thursday, al-Moallem said that Syria welcomed al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi to be the next UN envoy to Syria, even though no official decision has been taken from the UN in that regard yet.

He said Syria’s attitude shows Syria’s good-will sign.

Al-Moallem said the resignation of Kofi Annan has come against the backdrop of his failure to guarantee commitments from the other part, in reference to the armed opposition and the countries that are supporting them.

Al-Moallem challenged the UN to bring commitments from the opposition part to stop the violence.

He said Syria is still committed to Annan’s six-point peace plan, adding that the one-sided commitment is not enough.

al-Moallem said the Arab League (AL) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conspired on the suspension of Syria’s OIC membership, holding them responsible for the bloodletting in Syria.

Al-Moallem regarded the recent move by the OIC as a breach to its charters, branding some of its members "hypocrites".

Earlier in the day, the OIC suspended Syria’s membership of the 57-member bloc. Iran said it stands against such a decision.

Meanwhile, speaking about his recent meeting with UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, al-Moallem said he asked her about the countries that have donated to help the Syrian people and "she said only four countries have donated and we haven’t received a dollar from the Arabs."

Al-Moallem said he told Amos that those countries, in reference to the Gulf states, have the money to support the armed groups to destroy the infrastructure and roust people out of their homes but did not pay one dollar to help the people suffering the turmoil.