Ban, Al Arabi review impasse over Syria
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held talks with his Arab League counterpart Nabil Al Arabi ahead of the UN General Assembly next week when Syria is expected to dominate speeches by world leaders.
"They discussed first and foremost the situation in Syria, with its political impasse, widespread human rights abuses, and growing humanitarian crisis," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said of the talks.
UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrives in New York this weekend for talks with Ban on his recent visit to Damascus to meet Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
Brahimi, who will meet the UN Security Council on Monday, has yet to announce how he will press for an end to the 18-month-old conflict in which activists say more than 29,000 people have been killed.
Ban and Al Arabi also discussed rioting across the Muslim world "following the posting of the irresponsible and provocative video on the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which they condemned, while deploring the violence that ensued", Nesirky added.
Ban and Al Arabi also "expressed serious concern about the question of Palestine, the lack of progress in peace negotiations, and the alarming economic situation as well as the absence of hope in the occupied Palestinian territory," said the UN spokesman.
No-fly zone
Meanwhile, a top French official said on Friday that France was still discussing with allies whether to try to set up a no-fly zone in Syria to help rebels under assault from government forces.
"We are working, but not only us, a lot of countries are working on the issue of a no-fly zone, but for the moment it is clear that it's very difficult to set up for several reasons," he said during a visit to Washington.
"We are talking with all our partners, with the Turks, with the Americans, with the Brits, with others," said the official, who asked not to be named.
But for the moment no decision had been taken, he said, stressing any such move would also need approval from the UN Security Council, where it would likely encounter stiff resistance from veto-bearing nations Russia and China.
"It is a very complex decision for legal reasons and for practical reasons," the French official stressed.
"The military assessment is that this is extremely complicated. This has to be looked at very carefully by the Pentagon, by our military people, the British military, the Turks."
Any such partial no-fly zone over Syria would be implemented for humanitarian reasons to help Syrians displaced inside the country as they seek to escape the bloody conflict.