UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday expressed "total support" to Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi for his efforts in helping to end the Syria crisis.
UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey said that Ban and Brahimi spoke on Wednesday on the telephone with Nabil Elaraby, the Secretary- General of the League of Arab States, "for an in-depth discussion on the deteriorating crisis in Syria," which has claimed more than 60,000 lives and left hundreds of thousands more displaced.
Both Ban and Elaraby expressed "total support" for the efforts of Brahimi, the joint special representative of the United Nations and Arab League for Syria, in his "exceptionally difficult task in helping to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria," the spokesman said.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the former Algerian foreign minister, replaced the former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan in September 2012 to mediate on behalf of the United Nations and Arab League, has been criticized by Syrian government as "biased in favor of the countries supporting violence in Syria."
Today's call came amid the consultations carried out by Brahimi with Ban and other UN officials in New York on ending the mounting death toll and worsening humanitarian suffering in the Middle East country.
During the consultations, they expressed deep disappointment at the appalling levels of killing and destruction carried out by both the government and the opposition and fueled by outside powers providing weaponry to both sides.
They also expressed their concern over the lack of a unified international posture that could lead to a political transition as agreed at Geneva last June.
Speaking at his first press conference this year on Tuesday, Ban said that "The calamity in Syria is without doubt our main immediate test."
The crisis in Syria, which began in March 2011, has reportedly left more than 2.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, half of whom have been displaced internally. In addition, there are 650,000 people displaced in neighbouring countries, in North Africa and in Europe.
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