Kofi Annan, the new United Nations-Arab League envoy for Syria, said he would hold talks in New York City starting Wednesday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and member states. Annan, in a statement issued in Geneva, said he would hold a series of consultations in New York through Friday and then depart for Cairo to meet Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El-Araby. Annan also plans to visit other countries in the region, but he did not name them. Annan, who served as U.N. secretary-general from 1997 to 2006, held separate talks in Geneva on Monday with Foreign Ministers Ali Akbar Salehi of Iran and Alain Juppe of France. Last Friday, in his first statement as Syria envoy, Annan called for the full cooperation of all parties to help bring an end to violence and human-rights abuses in Syria.
