GENEVA - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Syria on Wednesday to halt mass arrests of anti-government protesters and to heed calls for reform.
Ban also said that UN humanitarian workers and human rights monitors must be allowed into the southern city of Deraa, cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, as well as other cities so as to assess the situation and needs of the civilian population.
"I urge President Assad to heed the call of the people for reform and freedom and desist from the mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and to cooperate with the human rights monitors," Ban told a news conference in Geneva.
