U.N. says Syria stepped up killings after monitors arrived: U.S.
A senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday that Syria accelerated its killing of pro-democracy demonstrators after Arab League monitors arrived, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said.
“The under-secretary-general noted that in the days since the Arab League monitoring mission has been on the ground, in fact an estimated 400 additional people have been killed, an average of 40 a day, a rate much higher than was the case even before their deployment,” Rice told reporters.
Rice was speaking after Lynn Pascoe, the U.N. under-secretary-general for political affairs, briefed the 15-nation Security Council behind closed doors on Syria and other major crises. She said the figure did not include the more than two dozen people killed in a suicide bombing in Damascus last week.
“That is a clear indication that the government of Syria, rather than using the opportunity … to end the violence and fulfill all of its commitments (to the Arab League), is instead stepping up the violence,” she said.
