the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
soon after they leave on Saturday, a front man said.
While the major powers wrangle over a possible military strike on Syria, samples collected in the country will be sent to laboratories across Europe and the analyzes could take more than a week, U.N. front man Farhan Haq told news hounds on Thursday.
Ban cut short a trip to Europe to return to New York on Thursday because of the growing Syria crisis.
Ban has already spoken this week to U.S. President Barack Obama
I am the change that you seek...
and Secretary of State John F.
I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a
lucky hat,conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
about the worsening tensions.
"Starting tomorrow he will try to reach out to member states and take discussions forward on the question of what is happening in Syria," the front man said.
Ban has appealed for the inspectors to be allowed to complete their work before the major powers decide any follow-up action.
The United States, Britannia and La Belle France are pressing for a military strike against
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
, blaming him for the attack near Damascus on August 21 in which hundreds of people died.
The U.N. team have been in Syria since August 18 but have not yet given a formal verdict about whether banned chemical arms were used.
The inspectors "will have a large number of facts at their disposal," said Haq.
"They have collected a considerable amount of evidence -- evidence through samples, evidence through witness interviews -- and they can construct through that a fact-based narrative that can get at the key facts of what happened on August 21," he added.
The inspectors will give Ban an "oral briefing" as soon as they leave Syria, Haq said.