UN chief tells Assad to 'stop killing your people'

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said the Syrian regime's path of repression is a dead end, at the opening of a UN conference in Beirut yesterday..

BEIRUT // The United Nations secretary-general made a direct appeal to the Syrian president Bashar Al Assad yesterday to "stop killing your people".

Ban Ki-moon urged the Syrian regime to end the bloodshed that the UN estimates has left more than 5,000 people dead since the uprising began in March last year.

"Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people," he said at the opening of a UN conference in Beirut on reform and democracy in the Arab world.

"The path of repression is a dead end."

The strongly worded rebuke came as Mr Al Assad announced a general amnesty for crimes committed since the popular revolt began.

Syria's state news agency said the amnesty applied to peaceful demonstrators, army deserters and those who carried unlicensed weapons. The government said "fugitives" must turn themselves in to authorities before January 31, to receive a pardon.

At least 16 people were killed in Syria yesterday, according to the Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian opposition group that documents the uprising and plans events on the ground. These numbers could not be independently verified.

Syria's state news agency reported that six people were killed and 16 injured by a roadside bomb in the northern province of Idlib.

The government maintains more than 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed by terrorist groups since March.

As the violence in Syria escalates, there are growing fears that the crisis could plunge the country into a civil war. Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has said Arab states should consider sending troops to Syria to try to stem the bloodshed.

There are already about 200 Arab League observers in Syria to monitor whether the government is abiding by its agreement to end the military crackdown on dissent.

A proposal on sending troops should be discussed, Amr Moussa, an Egyptian presidential candidate and former head of the Arab League, said yesterday at the two-day UN conference.

However, William Hague, the UK's foreign secretary, said western nations had no immediate plans for military intervention.

"We haven't been looking at a no-fly zone," Mr Hague said. It would be effective only in tandem with other measures and the Syrian regime had not been relying on air power to repress protests, he said.

Speaking at the opening of the conference yesterday, Mr Ban called for countries in the region to adopt real reforms, and noted that the "old order" of dictatorships and dynastic rule in the Middle East was "crumbling".

"Democracy is not easy. It takes time and effort to build," he said. "It does not come into being with one or two elections. Yet there is no going back."

During his visit to Lebanon - his third as UN secretary general - Mr Ban met senior Lebanese officials, including the prime minister, Nejib Mikati, who also addressed the conference's opening session.

Earlier in his visit to Lebanon, Mr Ban voiced concern about the "lack of progress in disarmament", and said weapons outside the control of the Lebanese state were "not acceptable".

Mr Ban told a news conference on Friday that he was "deeply concerned" about Hizbollah's military capacity, prompting the Shiite group's secretary general to hit back.

"I say to Ban Ki-moon that we are happy that you, the US and Israel are concerned that we have weapons," Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech on Saturday. "Our concern is that all our people in Lebanon know that there is a resistance that will remain to defend its land and people."

Despite pressure to relinquish its substantial arsenal, Hizbollah has pledged not to give up its weapons, which the group says are essential to defend Lebanon against Israel.

Last week, before Mr Ban's arrival, a senior Hizbollah official was quoted in local media as saying that the secretary general was "not welcome" in Lebanon.

* With additional reports by Agence France-Presse