SECRETARY-GENERAL PROFOUNDLY SADDENED BY DEATH OF SYRIAN PRESIDENT

Press Release
SG/SM/7446

SECRETARY-GENERAL PROFOUNDLY SADDENED BY DEATH OF SYRIAN PRESIDENT

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary- General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is profoundly saddened by the sudden death of President Hafez Al-Assad of Syria. The passing of President Assad is a great loss for the people of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Arab world and the region as a whole. The Secretary-General sends his heartfelt condolences to the family of President Assad and to the people of Syria.

On this sad occasion, the Secretary-General wishes to pay warm tribute to President Assad. He will be remembered as a statesman of great authority and as a person of firm and consistent principle, who led his country over decades through a period of much change and turbulence in the area.

In the Secretary-General's view, the death of President Assad underlines the urgency of the search for a comprehensive and lasting solution to the problems of the region.

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