Ban calls on Arab Leaders "to listen to their people"

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged Arab leaders at the Arab League Summit in Baghdad to listen to their people and fulfill a democratic approach in their countries that have seen a stream of uprisings and revolutions of late, known as the Arab spring, in each of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, and Syria, calling for freedom. In his remarks to the summit late on Thursday, Ban said "My message to you is simple. It draws on all that we have seen and all that we know. Listen to the people." "The people of the Arab world have seen tyrannies topple and democracies emerge in Europe, Asia and Africa." Ban noted. He added that the Arab Awakening has given a new sense of purpose to the League, stressing meantime UN's commitment to promote peace and stability in the Arab region. Talking of the Syrian crisis and the UN joint envoy in Syria, Kofi Annan's six-point plan to end the crisis, he said "It is essential that President Assad put those commitments into immediate effect. The world is waiting for commitments to be translated into action. The key here is implementation" Arab leaders at the summit backed up Annan's six-point plan and demanded an instant, full implementation of it. Annan's plan urges the groups loyal to Al Assad and the opposition to embark on a cease-fire and a dialogue yet not demanding Al Assad's step down.