Interview with UN Peace Envoy Brahimi: 'Syria Will Become Another Somalia'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-former-un-peace-envoy-to-syria-lakhdar-brahimi-a-974036.html



Homs in May: "People are telling me that Homs looks like Berlin in 1945."

Interview with UN Peace Envoy Brahimi: 'Syria Will Become Another Somalia'
Interview by Susanne Koelbl
June 07, 2014 – 11:14 PM

SPIEGEL: Mr. Brahimi, in May, you stepped down as the United Nations special envoy to Syria. When you took the position in 2012, many considered the task of achieving peace in Syria to be a mission impossible. What did you hope to achieve?

Brahimi: The idea was, and still is, for Bashar al-Assad to agree to become the kingmaker instead of staying on as president, an orderly transition with his participation to go to the new Syria. This is what I was and still am dreaming of.

SPIEGEL: Can you point to a particular incident that showed you that it was time to give up?

Brahimi: When I ended the second round of discussions at the so-called Geneva II conference at the beginning of this year, I realized that this process was not going to move forward any time soon.