BEIRUT: The UN chief told Bashar al-Assad on Sunday to “stop killing your people” and the Syrian leader offered an amnesty for “crimes” committed during a 10-month-old revolt against him.
Assad’s violent response to the uprising has killed more than 5,000 people, by a UN count. The Syrian authorities say 2,000 members of the security forces have also been killed.
“Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: stop the violence, stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a conference in Lebanon on democratic transitions in the Arab world.
“From the very beginning of the … revolutions, from Tunisia through Egypt and beyond, I called on leaders to listen to their people,” Ban said. “Some did, and benefited. Others did not, and today they are reaping the whirlwind.” (PTI)
