The former UN Chief Kofi Annan announced his resignation on Thursday from his post as UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, saying his peace plan did not receive the support it deserved.

The former UN Chief Kofi Annan announced his resignation on Thursday from his post as UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, saying his peace plan did not receive the support it deserved.

"I did not receive all the support that the cause deserved," Annan told a hastily scheduled press conference in Geneva after his resignation was announced by UN chief Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters in New York.
"You have to understand: as an envoy, I can't want peace more than the protagonists, more than the Security Council or the international community for that matter."

Annan said "continuous finger-pointing and name-calling" in the Security Council had hindered his attempts to implement his six-point peace plan that was supposed to start with a reciprocal ceasefire from April 12 that never took hold.
"The increasing militarization on the ground and the lack of unanimity in the Security Council fundamentally changed my role," he said.

Annan predicted that President Bashar al-Assad would go "sooner or later" and did not rule out his “successor having more luck or success”, despite his warning there was "no Plan B" to solve the crisis in Syria.
"These crises are never static... as the situation evolves there may be other approaches," he said.

REACTIONS
The Syrian foreign ministry expressed regrets at Annan's announcement and accused countries which seek to destabilize Syria of having hindered and continuing to hinder his mission, the ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdissi said.

Washington was quick to blame Annan's resignation on the refusal of Beijing and Moscow to back resolutions against Damascus.
"Annan's resignation highlights the failure at the United Nations Security Council of Russia and China to support meaningful resolutions against Assad that would have held Assad accountable," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

European Union foreign affairs Chief Catherine Ashton called for a rapid appointment by the UN and the Arab League of a successor to Kofi Annan after he quit as Syria peace envoy.
Expressing her "deep regret" in a statement, Ashton said the EU "calls for the early appointment of a successor to carry on Mr Annan's work towards a peaceful political transition in Syria."

On the other hand, Russia said it regretted Annan's decision and insisted it had always supported him "very strongly."
"We understand that that's his decision; we regret that he chose to do so," UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Annan's resignation as Syria peace envoy a "great shame" that should not deter efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
"Kofi Annan is a man of great merit, a brilliant diplomat and a very honest person, so it is a great shame," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying prior to his departure from a brief visit to London.
"But I hope that the international community's efforts will remain focused on ending the violence," he added.