Colombia calls for ceasefire, dialogue in Syria

Colombia on Monday called upon the Syrian government and the opposition "to cease fire and allow dialogue and reconciliation in searching for a better future " in the Middle East country which has been plagued by a 19-month political crisis. Nestor Osorio, the Colombian permanent representative to the United Nations, made the statement as he was speaking at an open meeting of the UN Security Council on the current situation in the Middle East. The ceasefire in Syria "becomes more urgent when we see that the impact of this crisis is leading to increased hostilities involving neighboring countries," Osorio said. "This must be immediately controlled to avoid the spread of unwanted consequences." "In case of Syria, it is disturbing (to see) the high level of violence, destruction and the constant flow of arms to all parties, " he said. "We consider that the miniaturization of the conflict is only worsening the situation and putting civilians on even higher levels of danger." "We regret the continued deterioration of the humanitarian situation, not only in Syria but also in neighboring countries, due to the impact caused by thousands of refugees fleeing violence, " he said. "We uphold our position of supporting a political solution to the situation in Syria, thereby we reiterate our strong support to the work of the joint special representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Lakhdar Brahimi, to put an immediate end to the violence and grant humanitarian access in order to facilitate a transition to a democratic, plural political system, in accordance with the Six Point Plan, (UN Security Council) resolutions 2042 and 2043 and the 30 June statement of the Group of Action, and the support of the international community." Brahimi, the former Algerian foreign minister, replaced Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, in September after Annan announced his decision to step down due to his failure to bring an early end to the Syrian crisis. The Six Point Plan, mediated by Annan on behalf of the UN and Arab League, the relevant Security Council resolutions and the Group of Action statement issued in Geneva is still seen by the international community as the viable basis for a political solution to the Syrian crisis.