The UN chief tells leaders at the opening of the General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting that “powerful patrons” of both sides in the more than five-year Syrian conflict “have blood on their hands”.
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On Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon will make his last address as secretary-general to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
The Syrian Red Crescent said 21 people were killed in the attack, which was denounced by the United Nations as a possible war crime. Veteran U.N. officials say that they can not recall a period in which their USA counterparts have been so broadly sympathetic to their proposals and concerns.
In his final address to the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, Ban said the Syrian regime “continues to barrel bomb neighborhoods and systematically torture thousands of detainees”.
The UN suspended aid convoys access to Syria after the strike.
“I appeal to all those with influence to end the fighting and get talks started”, Ban called on world leaders in his farewell address.
“This is madness. Replacing a two-state solution with a one-state construct would spell doom”, he warned.
The prospects of a two-state solution in the Middle East “are being lowered by the day”, Ban added, saying that the stalled peace process over his tenure as United Nations chief “has been 10 years lost to peace”. All the while, the occupation grinds into its 50th year.
“After ten years in office, I am more convinced that ever that we have the power to end war, poverty and persecution”, he said. “Ten years lost to intra-Palestinian divide, growing polarization and hopelessness”. “Do not subvert democracy, do not pilfer your country’s resources, do not imprison and torture your critics”.
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President Andrzej Duda met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a United Nations summit in NY on Monday and discussed Poland’s prospects for temporary membership of the Security Council in 2018-2019.
