http://www.reuters.com
Sat Aug 18

Brahimi to firm up role, not urge Assad exit yet

Brahimi, 78, served as a U.N. special envoy in Iraq after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, in Afghanistan, both before and after the end of Taliban rule, and in South Africa as it emerged from the apartheid era.

"TOO EARLY" TO SAY WHETHER ASSAD SHOULD GO

Describing the situation in Syria as "absolutely terrible", he said he would do his best to find a way of ending the 17-month-old conflict.

"The situation in Syria is dire, the situation is absolutely terrible. You see that on your television screen everyday. Villages and cities seem to be flattened from the bombing," he said.

"I could not refuse in a situation like this where hundreds and thousands, maybe millions of people are suffering to try and help no matter how difficult the situation is."

However, he declined to be drawn on whether he thought President Assad should step down - in contrast to Annan who said it was clear the Syrian leader "must leave office".

"It's much too early for me to say. I don't know enough about what is happening," Brahimi said, when asked whether he would be asking Assad to resign.

He had not yet held any talks with Assad but said he would meet him and the troubled country's opposition leaders as soon as the time was right.

"That's another basic principle. Never refuse to talk to anybody, and if for anything, for the understanding of the situation."

Brahimi, a Nobel Peace laureate, will have a new title, Joint Special Representative for Syria. Diplomats said the change was to distance himself from Annan.

He said he'd been in contact with Annan, a former U.N. Secretary-General, in recent months but declined to comment on why Annan's mission failed or whether he'd been advised to avoid undertaking certain initiatives.

"I've been in touch with him (Annan) throughout his mediation and in fact I spoke to him only yesterday," he said.

"I can't comment on his (peace) plan but I can say that we will try to solve this conflict, today is better than tomorrow."

The United Nations confirmed Brahimi was to become the next mediator as U.N. observers in Syria prepared to withdraw due to the violence.

Brahimi said he would draw on his past experience.

"Now we are talking about Syria. What I have seen elsewhere will be useful to remember, maybe there will be ideas on how to do a few things and ideas on how not to do things," he said.

"It is the Syrians who will make peace or war, nobody else and we will be there to try to help them as much as they are willing to accept our help."

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