UN-Arab League Envoy Due in Iran in Coming Days

The United Nations and Arab League’s Special Envoy on Syria Kofi Annan is scheduled to arrive in Tehran in the next few days in a bid to discuss the humanitarian crisis created by terrorist groups and armed rebels in Syria, a senior Iranian official announced.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters after a cabinet meeting here in Tehran on Wednesday that the visit which was initially slated for last week was postponed due to Annan’s tight schedule relating to his 6-point plan for Syria.

He said he was happy that Annan’s plan was accepted but warned that the important thing about the plan was that all should be vigilant that other forces do not replace the Syrian government’s forces once they evacuate their positions.

Annan, former UN secretary-general, was delegated last month as the joint special envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League to mediate a solution to the Syrian crisis.

In relevant remarks last week, Salehi reiterated Iran’s support for Annan’s peace plan, and said that Iran believes there is a way out of the current humanitarian crisis in Syria and both sides should show self-restraint.
In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of stirring unrests in Syria once again.

This is while Assad has done a lot in recent months to reform laws and conditions in his country. The Syrian president announced the end to the state of emergency, granted citizenship to many Syrian Kurds and promised parliamentary elections later this year. In January, he issued the latest of thousands of amnesties for those detained since the uprising began.

Syria also in February held a referendum on the country’s new constitution. More than 14 million Syrians over 18 could vote and almost 90 percent of the voters approved a new constitution in the referendum.

Under the new charter, freedom is ‘a sacred right’ and ‘the people will govern the people’ in a multi-party democratic system based on Islamic law.

The document allows multiple political parties to compete in elections for the legislature, sets a limit of two seven-year terms on the president, and eliminates a clause that guarantees political supremacy to Assad’s Ba’ath Party.