UN Observer Mission In Syria: Canada Backs Move, Says Assad Regime Will Be Held To Account

Posted: 04/19/2012 3:11 pm Updated: 04/20/2012 10:58 am

Baird Palestine Un Speech

PARIS - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada supports sending United Nations observers to violence-wracked Syria to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Speaking from a "Friends of Syria" meeting in Paris Thursday, Baird said the first step is to make sure that can be done safely.

While the group of Western and Arab ministers did not discuss military intervention, Baird did not rule out military support for an observer mission.

Baird stresses the group backs efforts at holding the regime of President Bashar Assad accountable for its actions.

He said the ministers are urging Syria to comply fully with a peace plan by special envoy Kofi Annan, which calls in part for a complete ceasefire in its bloody crackdown on dissent.

A small observer group is already in Syria, but the UN is pondering sending in hundreds more.

Related on HuffPost:

DESTRUCTION IN HOMS
Loading Slideshow...
  • In this Sunday, April 15, 2012 photo, Syrians walk between destroyed buildings in the Inshaat neighborhood of Homs, Syria. (AP Photo)

  • In this image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed Sunday, April 15, 2012, smoke rises from buildings across the city following purported shelling in Homs, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

  • This image made from amateur video and released by Bambuser Saturday, April 14, 2012 purports to show smoke from shelling in Homs, Syria. (AP Photo/Bambuser via AP video)

  • In this picture taken on Sunday March 25, 2012, a Syrian rebel stands guard in front of a damaged building, at Khaldiyeh neighborhoods in Homs province, central Syria. (AP Photo)

  • In this citizen journalism image taken on Saturday, March 24, 2012 and provided by Edlib News Network ENN, a Syrian boy stands next to damaged cars which were attacked from Syrian government forces shelling at Sarmeen town in Idlib province, northern Syria. (AP Photo/Edlib News Network ENN)

  • In this picture taken on Tuesday, March 20, 2012, shops and homes are seen after they were destroyed by Syrian government shelling in Rastan town in Homs province, central Syria. (AP Photo)

  • In this picture taken on Tuesday March 20, 2012, a damaged part of a Syrian army tank that attacked by the Syrian rebels is seen next to a destroyed house , at Rastan town in Homs province, central Syria. (AP Photo)

  • In this picture taken on Tuesday March 20, 2012, a damaged house that was destroyed by the shelling of the Syrian government forces, at Rastan town in Homs province, central Syria. (AP Photo)

  • In this picture taken on Tuesday March 20, 2012, a destroyed Syrian army tank which was attacked during clashes between the Syrian government forces and the Syrian rebels, in Rastan area in Homs province, central Syria. (AP Photo)

  • In this Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and accessed on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012, houses are seen damaged by Syrian government forces shelling in Homs, Syria. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria)

  • In this Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and accessed on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, houses are seen destroyed from Syrian government forces shelling, at Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs province, Syria. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria)

  • In this Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria and accessed on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, a damaged home is seen from Syrian government forces shelling, at Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs province, Syria. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria)

  • This image grab of footage uploaded on YouTube on March 20, 2012 allegedly shows a burning vehicle and gas cylinders, mainly used for cooking, strewn across a street after a mortar shell struck a gas depot store in the central restive Syrian city of Homs. ( -/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Houses, destroyed by shelling by regime forces, are seen in the central town of Rastan, near Homs, on March 13, 2012. (STR (FILES)/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A picture shows damaged buildings in the city of Rastan, near the flashpoint city of Homs, on March 9, 2012. ( -/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A view of a deserted street strewn with debris in the restive city of Homs, some 160kms north of the Syrian capital Damascus on February 25, 2012. (-/AFP/Getty Images)

FOLLOW CANADA POLITICS

PARIS - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada supports sending United Nations observers to violence-wracked Syria to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.Speaking from a "Friends of Syria...
PARIS - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says Canada supports sending United Nations observers to violence-wracked Syria to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.Speaking from a "Friends of Syria...
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05:00 AM on 04/20/2012
one would hope baird would hold the current canadian regime to account
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ascoli
06:55 AM on 04/20/2012
That's what the phoney tough guy bastard.....should be doing
08:00 AM on 04/20/2012
i think that tough guy personna is a bit of over compensation for him being a 'bottom' instead of a 'top'
01:33 AM on 04/20/2012
I can't even look at this as-hole on the computer. He and his cronies are an embarrassment to Canada and democracy!

Vivre le Canada Libre
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ascoli
06:55 AM on 04/20/2012
X2
#5
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Opus Fideo
Atheist. Social Democrat. Canadian.
12:01 AM on 04/20/2012
Canadians vow that the Harper regime will be held to account.
12:01 AM on 04/20/2012
Right now I would like the Harperites to be held to account but it won't happen. Not now. Not ever. We can only hope to repair some of the damage to this country.
11:31 PM on 04/19/2012
John Baird, Really?
Really?
Thelonius
Lived in Middle East for
11:19 PM on 04/19/2012
Baird. You are a joke, utterly unqualified to be Canada's foreign minister. (Admittedly, a trait common to all in Harper's Cabinet).

BTW, while you're at it, rather than serving as its puppet and enabler, "hold" Israel "to account" for its well documented flagrant and accelerating violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
05:01 AM on 04/20/2012
canada's answer to john bolton
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ascoli
06:54 AM on 04/20/2012
Truth well spoken........fan#327
10:54 PM on 04/19/2012
Might be a mission or two left in the CF-18's with some best before date ordinance.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cdncommentator
09:42 PM on 04/19/2012
Empty words. How is Canada's government going to hold Syria's to account?

Answer: They aren't. And they shouldn't pretend that they are going to.
09:27 PM on 04/19/2012
Yeah, right, as if Canada was some super power to be reckoned with. I'm sure Assad must be having a good laugh at Baird's expense.
08:52 PM on 04/19/2012
I can feel Syria quaking in their boots all the way from Canada, just a minute wrong feeling they did some oil fracking in our area two weeks ago!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Victor Saymong
Canuck up Toronto way
08:36 PM on 04/19/2012
It was these same jackarse CONjobbers who said they would be open and accountable to Canadians yet refuse to be open or accountable for any of their rotten actions so this demand of Syria is just stupid and laughable.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mtnestr
08:33 PM on 04/19/2012
Baird will huff and he'll puff and he'll blow the regime down.
11:49 PM on 04/19/2012
Definately a Legend in His Own mind !
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Rayma Allaby
07:57 PM on 04/19/2012
and how are the illegal con gov't gonna honour this one by stamping their feet and saying because i said so...this bunch of idiots are determined to destroy canada
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ascoli
06:52 AM on 04/20/2012
You are so right
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littlestar
What is life without dessert?
06:18 PM on 04/19/2012
Um yeah okay. How exactly are we going to hold the Syrian government to account? Nice to think about in theory, but terrible to execute in real life.

We only need to look at Afghanistan or Iraq. And if the Syrian government isn't above killing their own citizens, imagine what they would do to outsiders...
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Liz Wilson 2
“a small group can change the world
06:45 PM on 04/19/2012
we are having difficulty holding the CONservative government to account - just how are we going to expect more from a hostile regime. furthermore - war is a huge cost and noone but arms dealers profit
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Liz Wilson 2
“a small group can change the world
05:49 PM on 04/19/2012
baird and the rest of the corrupt conservative government need to be held to account. u ntil that is accomplished nothing this man says holds any merit