In a statement issued today by his spokesman Ahmed Fawzi, UN Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan struck a major blow to Western calls for a war in the country by terming the peace process “on track.”
The statement conceded the continued violations of the ceasefire on both sides, but insisted that progress continued to be made on reducing violence in the nation, and “behind the scenes” efforts to bring both sides to the table were also making headway.
This was a far cry from yesterday’s White House comments, which condemned the effort as a failure and urged “other” paths to be pursued. French officials had previously indicated that they would push for war after Annan’s statement.
This reaction anticipated that the statement would be less positive, and the announced plans may have convinced Annan to issue a more upbeat statement than he otherwise would have, trying to avoid giving NATO a good excuse to abandon negotiation and attack Syria outright.
