UN/Arab League envoy to brief Security Council on Syria

The UN and Arab League joint special envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, is expected to brief the UN Security Council on Friday on the current situation in Syria, which has been in a serious political crisis for about a year, diplomats said here on Wednesday.Annan, the former UN secretary-general, will brief the 15- nation Council on his mission to Syria and the Middle East via video links from Geneva, the diplomats said.“The Joint Special Envoy (JSE) for Syria Kofi Annan has now received a response from the Syrian authorities,” Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement issued in Geneva on Wednesday. “The JSE has questions and is seeking answers.” “But given the grave and tragic situation on the ground, everyone must realize that time is of the essence,” the statement said. “As he said in the region, this crisis cannot be allowed to drag on.” Annan met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad twice over the weekend when he was visiting the Middle East country. He also met Syrian opposition leaders in and outside Syria.Annan, a Ghanaian statesman, said in Ankara, Turkey that “the killings and violence must cease” in Syria, and that his preoccupation is the welfare of the Syrian people.