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GENEVA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- UN deputy head Jan Eliasson on Thursday warned that in fact terrorism has made gains because of the on-going wars both in Yemen and in Syria and the world is now in desperate need of ending this war.
Speaking to a press conference here, Eliasson, who just concluded a visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Turkey, said that though the terrorist threat must be dealt with first, the world community need simultaneously to move in the direction of political talks.
"We are now in desperate need of ending this war, not only because of the suffering and enormous humanitarian challenges that we face, but also because of the dangers of this war leading to further political damage," he said.
"I think we have had enough political damage if we add up the role of Daesh and ISIL in Iraq and Syria of course, and the pressures on neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan," he added.
According to the UN deputy head, at this moment there is great need for a transitional governing body with full executive powers to open up for a constitutional process and later for the Syrian people to decide their own future.
"There is a certain hope that one could move in that political direction and I would hope that the key political actors accept their responsibility," he noted.
Answering a question about a peace keeping operation in Syria, the UN deputy head said that any peace keeping operation requires the decision by the United Nations Security Council and "we have lacked a serious or strong Security Council resolution on Syria ever since the war started."
"If the Security Council comes to the decision that there is need for an international presence, that is of course something the Council has to decide, but we are not at that stage yet," he said.
