LOC21:24
18:24 GMT
BRUSSELS, April 8 (KUNA) -- NATO can do much, much more to improve the security situation in the Middle East and North Africa by working more closely with its partners in the region, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said Friday.
Speaking at The Netherlands Atlantic Association in the Hague, he called for closer cooperation between NATO and the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
"Following the failure of the Arab Spring, parts of the Middle East and North Africa have been engulfed by violence and chaos. Once secure states have become fragile, and once fragile states have failed. In Syria the world has witnessed the deepening of a civil war, caused by President Assadآ’s decision to wage war against his own people," said the NATO deputy chief.
"The ceasefire currently in place in Syria is holding, and I urge all parties to move towards a sustainable peace and a successful transition. Putting an end to the civil war will also enable the international community to focus all its energies on destroying ISIL and discrediting its extremist ideology," he added. (end)
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