Kofi Annan, whose initiative to forge peace in war-ravaged Syria failed to take hold, said he has resigned as the U.N. and Arab League joint special envoy because of "increasing militarization on the ground" and "the clear lack of unity" at the U.N. Security Council.
U.N. and Arab League joint special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan has resigned and will be replaced.
International envoy Kofi Annan said Tuesday he sees Iran as a factor in diplomatic efforts to forge peace in Syria, a stance not shared by the United States.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is in Syria for talks with president Bashar al-Assad. CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan discusses the latest Syrian action group meeting.
There is no guarantee that a sweeping new international agreement on Syria will succeed in ending the conflict there, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conceded, as opposition activists said the number of dead had skyrocketed in recent months.
As a dozen delegations sat inside the U.N. headquarters in Geneva on Saturday, drafting a plan to end the bloody Syrian crisis, a large funeral procession made its way through a Damascus suburb, clapping and chanting loud slogans against the government.
Diplomats sought new ways to forge peace in Syria on Friday as the killings continued in the restive land.
The U.N. monitoring mission in Syria will remain in place for now despite its activities being halted due to rising violence, its leaders said Tuesday.
The United Nations said Saturday it has suspended its monitoring mission in Syria due to intensifying violence.
In a report Thursday to the U.N. General Assembly, former secretary-general and Syrian peace envoy Kofi Annan was frank and determined: Neither the opposition nor the Syrian government are implementing the cease-fire.
A U.N. Assistant Secretary-General says in Syria there are now war crimes and torture of the worst kind.
As a U.N.-backed peace initiative founders in Syria, Arab leaders signaled the need Saturday for more robust measures to end the violence there.
Chilling details of the Houla massacre are released as Kofi Annan meets with Syria's president. CNN's Dan Rivers reports.
World powers weighed tough options to end brutality in Syria on Tuesday amid the aftermath of the now-infamous massacre in Houla.
Upon his arrival in Damascus, Syria, joint U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan called Monday for those responsible for Friday's massacre of 108 people in the town of Houla to be held responsible and for his six-point plan to be implemented.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned a bomb blast Wednesday near a convoy of U.N. observers that was entering the southern Syrian city of Daraa.
Special envoy Kofi Annan told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that international observers are the last hope for success of a peace plan in Syria. Otherwise, he warned, Syria is sure to plunge into full-scale civil war.
An explosion at a car wash near Syria's largest city of Aleppo killed at least five people Saturday, opposition activists said.
Syrian government snipers and other forces stalked opponents in homes and neighborhoods Friday in a campaign of gunfire, shelling and arrests amid mass protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, an opposition group said.
A six-point peace plan for Syria negotiated by U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan is not being upheld, an international rights group said Wednesday.
A suicide bombing in a Damascus neighborhood killed nine people Friday -- most of them government forces -- and further unraveled an already tenuous ceasefire, Syrian state media reported.
A Syrian opposition group says it has documented hundreds of deaths since the U.N. peace plan monitors began their work last week.
For 13 months, violence has raged in Syria between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and the opposition in a lopsided battle that has seen thousands killed amid a number of international attempts to broker a peace deal.
A small group of observers resumed the United Nations' mission to monitor a truce in Syria that was tenuous from the start and showed signs Wednesday of unraveling as opposition activists again reported widespread violence.
The Syrian military is halting violence in areas entered by U.N. observers but resumes attacking once the monitors leave, the U.N.-Arab League joint special envoy said Tuesday.
Arwa Damon reports attacks continue across Syria despite optimism the presence of U.N. monitors would decrease violence.
Heavy shelling hit the Syrian city of Hama on Monday, opposition activists said, days after the U.N. Security Council voted to send as many as 300 observers to monitor a tenuous cease-fire.
The six-point peace plan for Syria proposed by Kofi Annan is doomed to fail for one simple reason: Neither President Bashar al-Assad nor the government opposition is interested in making it work.
The international sense of urgency over the Syrian crisis grew on Thursday, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for an arms embargo and other tough U.N. Security Council steps against the Bashar al-Assad regime.
The beginning of the U.N. observer mission to Syria heralds a new phase in more than a year of upheaval across the country. Success, however unlikely, could open the door to some form of dialogue between the regime and its opponents. But such is the polarization in Syria that most analysts see the mission as the least worst option before violence sets the agenda again.
The first members of a U.N. observer team were expected to begin their work in Syria on Monday, monitoring a tenuous cease-fire that is showing signs of collapse amid growing reports of bloodshed.
Syrians poured into the streets after Friday prayers, chanting and raising opposition flags in a major test of a fragile cease-fire implemented a day earlier to end a bloody government crackdown.
The world turned a skeptical eye toward Syria on Thursday after a truce cast relative calm over restive cities and towns previously pounded by government forces.
Despite fresh violence and global skepticism, the Syrian government said Wednesday it will abide by the terms of a United Nations-backed peace plan and meet a looming deadline to halt all military action.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League envoy to Syria, told the U.N. Security Council that he was "gravely concerned at the course of events" after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad failed to withdraw troops from cities and towns by Tuesday's self-imposed deadline.
Syria will not commit to pulling its forces from cities only to have "armed terrorist groups" attack, a Syrian foreign ministry spokesman said Sunday as opposition activists reported at least 69 deaths in the restive nation.
Syrian forces are targeting civilians displaced from their homes by earlier fighting, an opposition group said Saturday, three days before a deadline for government forces to withdraw from cities.
Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League point man on Syria, urged the Bashar al-Assad regime Thursday to cease violence and carry out his six-point plan for peace.
Clashes and shelling across Syria on Tuesday gave no indication that any letup in the violence was imminent, despite Monday's promise by the government of President Bashar al-Assad to withdraw its forces from population centers by April 10.
The Syrian government has agreed to begin immediately to pull its forces out of population centers and will complete its withdrawal by April 10, diplomatic officials told reporters Monday.
Officials from dozens of countries gathered in Turkey on Sunday to discuss the dire situation in neighboring Syria, where months of violence has been compounded by a humanitarian crisis.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must order a cease-fire immediately under a peace plan Syria accepted and not await concessions from the opposition, a spokesman for special envoy Kofi Annan said Friday.
Syria's president said his government will make every effort to ensure the success of U.N. envoy Kofi Annan's peace mission, but the plan will work only if it vanquishes support for terrorism.
Once again, Syria is at a crossroads. Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan deserves applause for brokering a ceasefire in a conflict where others have failed, and where some have been only too ready to press military buttons. Despite the seeming success of diplomacy, the conflict in Syria is far from over. This is only a new beginning.
Even though Syria has signed off on a U.N.-backed peace initiative, there's no evidence yet that the regime is carrying out the plan Wednesday, activists and the U.S. State Department said.
CNN's Richard Roth and Ben Wedeman report on how Kofi Annan's Syrian peace plan proposal is being received.
Facing growing global pressure over rising violence in his country, Syria's embattled president had little choice but to accept a U.N. special envoy's peace proposal, analysts said Tuesday.
Key diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said Tuesday that the Syrian government's acceptance of a plan to forge peace and end violence must be more than lip service.
U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan is promoting a six-point initiative to end the violence, bring in relief, and forge a political process to address grievances in Syria.
United Nations-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan said Monday the ongoing crisis in Syria cannot not be allowed to "drag on indefinitely," but resisted setting any sort of timetable.
Syrian security fores pounded a densely populated Homs neighborhood Wednesday as the U.N. Security Council called on the government to work with its envoy to end the bloodshed.
Deadly explosions rocked parts of Damascus on Saturday with some of the targets being Syrian government facilities, witnesses and state television reported.
The U.N. point man on Syria said Friday that he's working hard to stop the yearlong violence there and "get unimpeded access" for humanitarian relief.
The civilian death toll mounted in Syria Wednesday as the U.N.-Arab League envoy for the country, Kofi Annan, considered a response from Syrian authorities to proposals laid out in weekend meetings, officials said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has rebuffed the efforts of the joint U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan to mediate an end to the violence, three U.S. administration officials told CNN on Tuesday.
At least 45 women and children were killed in the Syrian city of Homs late Sunday, opposition activists said, hours after the U.N. special envoy to Syria met with the country's president in an effort to reach a diplomatic solution to end the violence.
In what he described as a candid and comprehensive conversation, Kofi Annan, the special United Nations envoy to Syria, laid out proposals Saturday to President Bashar al-Assad that were aimed at halting the relentless carnage.
Kofi Annan, the joint special envoy to Syria for the United Nations and the Arab League, will meet Saturday in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "to seek an urgent end to all violence and human rights violations and to initiate efforts to promote a peaceful solution" to the violence that has wracked the country for nearly a year, his spokesman said Friday.
Fresh diplomatic efforts to resolve the nearly year-old crisis in Syria got under way Wednesday as the situation inside Syria reached a new level of concern.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says serious changes are needed in both Tunisia and Egypt.
CNN's Richard Lui visits a school in Ghana dedicated to ending child slavery through education.
A former child slave is rescuing victims of child trafficking in Ghana and has built a school to help give them a better future.
Kenya's prime minister on Monday urged former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to intervene in a dispute with the nation's president over the suspension of two Cabinet members.
President of the Global Humanitarian Forum tells CNN why the world needs to act now on climate change.
A group including former U.N. chief Kofi Annan and former U.S. President Carter postponed a visit to Zimbabwe meant to highlight the country's humanitarian crisis after the government refused to cooperate, Annan said.
CNN's Ralitsa Vassileva reports that a group of respected leaders is being refused entry into Zimbabwe.
Who do you feel has been the most inspirational leader featured on The Spirit Of in 2008?
Kofi Annan has an ambitious vision for Africa.
Zimbabwe opposition leaders must be willing to work alongside Robert Mugabe's party -- even if they unseat him in an upcoming presidential run-off vote, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan says.
Former U.N. Secretary-General and chief mediator Kofi Annan on Tuesday suspended talks to end Kenya's violent post-election crisis.
Kofi Annan has suspended talks between the Kenyan government and opposition leaders. CNN's David McKenzie reports.
Kofi Annan has threatened to leave as mediator in the tense Kenyan power-sharing talks if a quick agreement is not reached, a senior aide to former U.N. chief said Monday.
Kofi Annan, mediating talks between bitter Kenyan political rivals, said Friday that major progress is being made in forging a political deal that will end the crisis in the East African country.
Kenyan negotiators trying to end the violent ethnic tensions that erupted after the disputed presidential elections last year have reached some sort of a political agreement and will continue talking next week, a spokesman for the mediators said.
Leaders on both sides of a contested election move toward a new deal, but the impact of weeks of bloodshed may be more difficult to resolve
Talks to mediate an end to Kenya's political crisis were to resume Friday morning after being suspended in the wake of a second opposition lawmaker's killing a day earlier, according to a U.N. spokesman.
CNN's Nic Robertson talks to newly displaced people as ethnic violence continues to flare in Kenya.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday pleaded with Kenya's government to take "extraordinary measures" to protect civilians hours after an opposition lawmaker was killed outside his home.
Tear gas was fired Wednesday on people taking part in a prayer march sparking more post-election violence in the Kenyan capital.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetang'ula said hopes were high that former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan can start a dialogue to help resolve Kenya's political crisis.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is making his farewells; he steps down from the helm of the world body at the end of this month. As the seventh U.N. chief -- he served nearly a decade dealing with one global crisis after another.
Kofi Annan had some strong words Monday for the United States in his farewell speech as secretary-general of the United Nations.
Thailand's Health Ministry has confirmed the death of a 5-year-old boy from avian influenza.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan -- the latest top diplomat to visit volatile Iraq -- on Saturday denounced the deadly terror strikes coursing through the Middle East and called for Iraqis to reconcile.
Wednesday's deadly explosions in Amman, Jordan, drew swift condemnation in Washington and at the United Nations.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the international community Thursday to make immediate preparations for a possible pandemic of bird flu.
The author of an e-mail that renewed scrutiny on Kofi Annan's role in Iraq's oil-for-food program denied Wednesday that he ever lobbied the U.N. secretary-general to award a lucrative inspection contract.
Investigators probing the United Nations' oil-for-food program said Tuesday they are reviewing an e-mail that suggests a communication between Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the company that won a lucrative contract and employed his son.
U.N. head Kofi Annan has condemned the bombing of a Kabul Internet cafe that killed three people and has expressed concern about increasing violence in Afghanistan.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has said he is concerned over aspects of last week's parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe.
An independent U.N. investigative committee is expected to clear Secretary-General Kofi Annan of conflicts of interest in the now-defunct oil-for-food program in Iraq.
The sonorous voice is familiar around the world. No matter what the crisis of the day, Kofi Annan's soft baritone always manages to convey a sense of imperturbable gravitas.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on the international community to do more to avert a looming humanitarian tragedy in Sudan.
The Sudanese government Saturday vowed to crack down on militia violence in the country's strife-torn Darfur region, where a shocking humanitarian crisis has been unfolding for months.
The U.N. Security Council has offered formal support for Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan for an independent, high-level investigation of the controversial Iraq oil-for-food program.
The United Nations said alleged British spying on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's office, if true, is illegal and must stop immediately.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair says claims that UK intelligence agents spied on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan are "deeply irresponsible" and threatened the security of the country.
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