BEIRUT: International mediator Kofi Annan said on Friday he was “frustrated and impatient” over the continued violence and killing in Syria, and said he wanted to see faster progress toward resolving the crisis.
“I think perhaps I am more frustrated than most of you because I am in the thick of this,” he told journalists after talks in Beirut with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati. “I want to see things move faster,” he said.
Syrian rebels, who agreed to Annan’s April 12 cease-fire plan, have been urging him to declare the plan dead, freeing them from any commitment to the tattered truce. They say President Bashar Assad’s forces have not stopped the killing.
Damascus says it wants Annan’s plan to succeed in ending the violence so the 14-month-old crisis can be resolved through political dialogue.
Although refusing to declare the cease-fire a failure, Annan welcomed any further steps from the UN Security Council.
“If there are other options on the table, I will say bravo and support them,” he said.
