UN chief Ban urges all sides to end Syrian violence

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called Thursday for an end to the violence in Syria, both from the government and the opposition, while urging the international community to find a common response to the unrest. "What is important at this time is that first the Syrian authorities must stop killing their own people," Ban told journalists on a visit to Vienna, when asked about Syria's intention to hold a referendum on a new constitution. "And this violence should stop from all sides whether by national security forces or by opposition forces," he went on. Ahead of a vote in the UN General Assembly expected later Thursday on a draft resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop deadly attacks on civilians, Ban also called for unity. "I urge the international community to speak in one voice: stop the violence. Stop the bloodshed," he said. "The longer we debate, the more people will die." Russia, one of Assad's last major friends, vetoed along with China earlier this month a UN Security Council resolution condemning the violence in Syria. It also reportedly opposes the General Assembly resolution, which can not be vetoed but carries less weight. "It was a regrettable thing that the Security Council was not able to take the draft resolution taking coherent, and in one voice, one action but now this is behind us," Ban said Thursday. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said earlier this week that "crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed" in Syria since the crackdown began last year. According to the UN, more than 5,400 people have been killed, while thousands are missing and tens of thousands more have fled the country. "The lack of agreement in the Security Council does not give the government licence to continue this assault on its own people," Ban said Thursday. The UN chief was in Vienna for a meeting on drug trafficking in Afghanistan, attended by the Russian and French foreign ministers Sergei Lavrov and Alain Juppe, and also met with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger.