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UN chief urges Syrian president to 'immediately' stop violence

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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to "immediately" stop violence against civilians and in a phone conversation on Saturday, the UN said in a statement.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to "immediately" stop violence against civilians and in a phone conversation on Saturday, the UN said in a statement.

Ban expressed "his strong concern and that of the international community at the mounting violence and death toll" in the country, the statement said.

The conversation came after some 300 people were killed in a government crackdown on protesters in the past six days, with most of the deaths recorded in the eastern city of Hama.

Al-Assad told Ban about reforms announced last week in an attempt to resolve the political crisis in the country. The measures include a decree authorizing a multiple-party political system.

Ban "underscored that for these measures to gain credibility, the use of force and mass arrests must stop immediately."

The United Nations stepped up pressure on the Syrian government on Wednesday, condemning "the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities" in a UN Security Council presidential statement.

Some 2,000 people, mostly protesters, have been killed in Syria since the unrest broke out in the country in March, according to human rights activists.

During the conversation, Assad also referred to "the large number of lives lost among the security forces and police" involved in quenching the protests.

"The Secretary-General said he condemned the violence against both the civilians as well as security forces," the statement said.

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