UN chief tells Assad path of repression is ‘dead end’

UN chief Ban Ki-moon yesterday urged Syria’s Bashar al-Assad to stop killing his own people, saying the path of repression was a “dead end,” as Damascus announced a general amnesty for crimes committed during the unrest.

“Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end,” Mr Ban said in a keynote address at a conference in Beirut on democracy in the Arab world.

“The winds of change will not cease to blow. The flame ignited in Tunisia will not be dimmed,” he added.

Mr Ban’s comments came as the Syrian President announced a general amnesty for crimes committed during the popular unrest that yesterday entered its eleventh month.

The opposition Muslim Brotherhood dismissed the amnesty, describing it – the third of its kind since the uprising began – as “neither serious nor credible.”