UN Monitoring Mission Head On Way To Syria

Major-General Robert Mood of Norway (right) speaks with Joint Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan (left) during a meeting at the United Nations in Geneva on April 4.

The UN says that the new head of its monitoring mission in Syria is on his way to Damscus to start his mission.

Spokesman Neeraj Singh told reporters in Damascus that Major General Robert Mood will arrive on April 29 in the capital and be the world body's chief military observer in Syria.

Mood, a veteran Norwegian peacekeeper, was head of the UN Truce Supervision Organization, which monitors Middle East truces, from 2009 until 2011.

He was also twice part of the international force in Kosovo between 1999 and 2002.

Last Saturday the U.N. Security Council decided to send 300 monitors to the country in order to observe the ceasefire announced on April 10.

In the meantime, there are two monitors stationed in Homs, two in Hama and two in Idlib.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP