...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...warned of an "escalation" of the Syria conflict into the rest of the Middle East unless it is carefully handled as he called on the U.N. Security Council to unite to put pressure on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike...
Annan gave his warning as Turkey told its nationals to leave Syria where thousands took part in new protests against the government. Activists said at least another 15 people were killed.
The U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy has ordered a team of U.N. experts to Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
this weekend to discuss a possible ceasefire and international monitoring mission, his front man said.
All countries around Syria are worried about fallout from the uprising, Annan told news hounds after briefing a closed session of the U.N. Security Council on the crisis.
"We tend to focus on Syria, but any miscalculation that leads to major escalation will have impact in the region which would be extremely difficult to manage," he told news hounds in Geneva, according to an official transcript.
"The region is extremely concerned about developments in Syria. Their concern goes beyond Syria itself because the crisis can have a serious impact for the whole region if it is not handled effectively."
Turkey Friday strongly urged thousands of nationals to leave Syria because of the "serious security risks" and said it was considering withdrawing its ambassador from Damascus.
Annan told the Security Council he has had a "disappointing" response from Assad so far to his proposals, diplomats at the meeting said.
He appealed to the badly divided council to get behind his mission in a bid to sway Assad.
"The stronger and more unified your message, the better chance we have of shifting the dynamics of the conflict," Annan was quoted as telling the 15-nation council.