UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

United Nations, Sept. 20 – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders attending the General Assembly Tuesday that the Syrian government was to blame for the majority of the deaths in Syria and that that country’s future should not depend on President Bashar al-Assad.

“There is no military solution. Many groups have killed many innocents but none more than the government of Syria,” Ban said during the opening of the General Assembly.

The South Korean diplomat called for a “political transition” in Syria to end the violence.

“The future of Syria should not rest on the fate of a single man,” Ban said, referring to Assad.

The U.N. leader urged the countries providing arms to the warring parties in Syria to stop, saying that they had “blood on their hands.”

Ban also apologized for the introduction of cholera into Haiti by U.N. peacekeepers and abuses committed by troops serving under the United Nations flag.

“I feel tremendous regret and sorrow at the profound suffering of Haitians affected by cholera. Let us work together to meet our obligations to the Haitian people,” the secretary-general said.

The Caribbean nation was free of cholera until 2010, when United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, or Minustah, soldiers dumped sewage into a river.

Ban said he planned to present a new assistance plan for Haiti to the General Assembly before the end of his term and called for funding from member states’ governments for the project.

Victims’ groups have tried unsuccessfully to obtain compensation from the United Nations, which has claimed immunity in the case and denied responsibility for years for introducing cholera into Haiti.

Ban also apologized for sexual abuse and exploitation cases involving U.N. peacekeepers in the Central African Republic.

“The despicable acts of sexual exploitation and abuse committed by a number of U.N. peacekeepers and other personnel have compounded the suffering of people already caught up in armed conflict, and undermined the work done by so many others around the world,” Ban said.

The secretary-general said that peacekeepers should be held to a high standard and member states should crack down on crimes of this type.

“Protectors must never become predators,” Ban said. EFE