UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Damascus regime to provide free access countrywide to the international observers deployed in Syria and suggested EU air mobility for a future UN supervision mission.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Damascus regime to provide free access countrywide to the international observers deployed in Syria and suggested EU air mobility for a future UN supervision mission.

"It is the Syrian government's responsibility to guarantee freedom of access and freedom of movement within the country of these observers", said the United Nations secretary-general during a visit to Luxembourg.

The observers "should be allowed to freely move to any place where they will be able to observe the cessation of violence", he added.

Six members in a first advance party of observers had arrived late on Sunday in Syria, after the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing them to contact all the Syrian sides and ensure that they commit to the ceasefire.

The advance team is to be replaced in the longer term by some 200 to 250 international monitors. But this will require a new UN resolution.
Ban said "I am now requested by the Security Council to propose a formal proposal for a UN supervision mission by tomorrow".
"I am going to do it by tomorrow", he added.

With the ceasefire "very fragile," he said there remained questions about whether a force of 250 monitors would be sufficient.
"I think it is not enough considering the current situation, considering the vastness of the country," he said. "That's why we need very efficient mobility of our observer mission".

He said he had discussed the possibility of the European Union providing helicopters and planes to ensure efficiency and mobility, during talks in Brussels with EU officials on Monday.
"I believe the EU leadership was positively inclined," he added, while reiterating that he was "not contemplating any UN military protection at this time".