By IANS,
United Nations: The UN will send its 300 international unarmed observers to Syria by the end of May, said Herve Ladsous, the head of the UN peacekeeping body.
“We have 24 observers on the ground and I fully expect this number to increase rapidly over the next two weeks so that UNSMIS (UN Supervision Mission in Syria) will build up to full operational strength by the end of May,” Ladsous said Tuesday.
The UN Security Council (UNSC) has approved dispatching 300 observers to Syria to monitor a ceasefire between government and opposition forces as part of the peace plan proposed by the UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
The mission has been approved for an initial period of 90 days.
Damascus has insisted that the members of the monitoring force come from countries friendly to Syria, such as Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
Despite the monitors’ presence, there have been reports of numerous violations of the truce by both opposition and government forces, in which dozens of people were killed.