'One process of mediation' key in Syria

United Nations - Kofi Annan, the United Nations and Arab League joint special envoy for Syria, said on Wednesday that the "one mediation process" accepted by all parties concerned is crucial to ending the crisis in Syria.

"If we are going to succeed, it is extremely important that we all accept that there should be one process of mediation," Annan told reporters at the end of his first meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Headquarters.

"When you have more than one, and people take their own initiatives, the parties play with mediators," he said. "(We need) one single unity process and it is one that the international community speaks with one voice."

"I would expect to get to Syria fairly soon," he added. "I would plead with (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) that he should engage, not only with me, but with the process we are launching."

Annan, the former UN secretary-general, is expected to hold a series of consultations with UN member states through Friday in New York.

Annan "will need the support of all those inside and outside Syria," Ban said. "I call on all parties to do their utmost."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi called for continued close contact on the Syrian issue, and further coordination of positions at the UN and other international forums, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on its website.

They gave a favorable assessment of the referendum on a new constitution held in Syria on Feb 26, the ministry said in a statement after two ministers spoke by telephone on Wednesday.

"Moscow and Beijing have consistently advocated that all interested external parties should facilitate a peaceful settlement in Syria by providing conditions for the start of a broad inclusive dialogue between the Syrian authorities and all opposition groups," the ministry added.

Lavrov was scheduled to meet his counterparts from Gulf countries in the Saudi capital in Riyadh to discuss developments in Syria, Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah said on Thursday.

The UN's top human rights body voted on Thursday to condemn Syria for the widespread violence in the country, as UK is closing its embassy in Syria on the same day amid a worsening security situation in the country.

Syria's seat in the room remained empty during the vote, after the country's UN envoy stormed out of the council on Tuesday having accused the body of supporting terrorism and prolonging the crisis in Syria.

Members of the UN Human Rights Council approved a resolution proposed by Turkey with 37 votes in favor and three - Russia, China and Cuba - voting against. Three members of the 47-nation body abstained and four didn't vote.

On Thursday, Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, formed a military council to organize and unify all armed resistance to Assad's government as the conflict veered ever closer to civil war.

AP-Xinhua