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| Martin Nesirky, spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, speaking at a regular press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York [PHOTO: UNifeed] |
New York: The spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said "there should be no doubt about the gravity" of the
issue of chemical weapons in Syria, and that Ban was also "seriously
concerned" about the announcement of a planned rocket launch by the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Speaking at a regular press briefing at UN headquarters,
spokesman Martin Nesirky took several questions on the latest developments in
Syria.
On the pullout of some UN staff from Damascus, Nesirky said
it had been decided to reduce the number of international staff there in light
of the escalating violence in recent days, including increased fighting around
Damascus and the closure of the airport for several days, as well the recent
attacks on two convoys of the UN Disengagement Observer Disengagement Force
(UNDOF) in which four people were wounded.
Nesirky stressed that "the United Nations is still in
Damascus of course, performing humanitarian operations as security conditions
permit".
On the possibility of chemical weapons being used in the
Syrian conflict, the spokesman said "any use of such terrible weapons
would have dire consequences for the population of Syria and of course
potentially for a much wider area". He recalled that Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon had previously written to the Syrian authorities and President Bashar
Assad about the issue and said the international community was following
developments "extremely closely".
Turning to the DPRK, Nesirky said the Secretary-General
"strongly urges" the country to reconsider its decision to launch a
further missile.
"Any such launch would constitute a clear violation of
Security Council resolution 1874, in which the Council demanded that the DPRK
not conduct any launch using ballistic missile technology," the
spokesperson said, reading from a note to correspondents issued today.
"Such a launch would also heighten tension in the region."
According to media reports, the DPRK's state news agency on
Saturday announced the decision to launch another space satellite, sometime
between 10 December and 22 December. A similar attempt in April was
unsuccessful.
Nesirky said "the Secretary-General strongly urges the
DPRK to reconsider its decision and to suspend all activities related to its
ballistic missile programme". He
said Ban "further calls upon the DPRK to re-establish its moratorium on
missile launches, as required by the Security Council." -UNifeed