The United Nations (UN) has declared that starvation is a war crime,
just as the UN-Arab League Special envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi stepped
down, reports NaijaAgroNet.
Brahimi, a
veteran Algerian diplomat, stepped down after being frustrated by the purported
Syrian forces from carrying out his mandate of assisting victims and ensuring
that aids get to the affected.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that Brahimi,
Syria mediator took this stand after briefing the 15-member Security Council
for the final time and had formally stepped down on My 31
However, in reaction to Brahimi vacation of special envoy post,
the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said blamed an international deadlock
over how to end the country's three-year civil war for hampering a bid to
broker peace.
In addition, he noted that international and regional powers have
backed opposing sides in the civil war that has so far killed at least 150,000
people, with Russia and Iran supporting President Bashar al-Assad and Western
powers and Gulf Arab states largely backing the rebels.
NaijaAgroNet
recollects that Brahimi had long threatened to quit, just as his predecessor -
former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan - did in 2012.
Annan resigned after six months as the U.N. and Arab League joint
special representative on Syria, slamming the U.N. Security Council for failing
to unite behind efforts to end the fighting.
Ban ki-moon noted in announcing Brahimi's departure, that
"There must be accountability for the terrible crimes that have been - and
are being - committed. Such crimes include the deliberate starvation of
communities by preventing humanitarian access."
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
... Linking agrobiz, people & technologyPix: Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General