UN to train Arab League monitors in Syria

The United Nations has agreed to train Arab League monitors who are observing the uprising in Syria, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The UN will deploy trainers to Cairo in the upcoming days after the Arab League made a request for help to do their job better, Bloomberg reported. The training will be carried out by the staff of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, most likely this weekend, after the Arab League holds its ministerial meeting on January 22.

Read more at GlobalPost: Arab League monitor demands Syria to stop violence

"At the request of the League of Arab States, the OHCHR has agreed to train observers and will deploy to Cairo to do this training," a UN spokesman said, referring to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Daily Telegraph reported.

“We cannot let the situation continue this way,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at a conference in Abu Dhabi, Bloomberg reported. “This is my urgent appeal.”

Read more at GlobalPost: Second Arab League monitor says he may quit Syria

Ban said on Tuesday that casualties in Syria after the crackdown of the government on protesters have “reached unacceptable levels,” Bloomberg reported. In early January, the UN said it was ready to jump into the Arab League’s observer mission, which has been largely criticized by the Syrian opposition, the Daily Telegraph reported.

On Monday activists said the violence continues, despite the Arab League’s presence, with another 15 people dead in Syria, the BBC reported. According to a statement from the Local Coordination Committees, the death toll includes two women and two children.

The UN has reported that at least 5,000 people have died since the uprisings in Syria began last March, the BBC reported.

Read more at GlobalPost: Nabil Elaraby, Arab League chief, said civil war in Syria a possibility