GENEVA, Switzerland, June 30 (UPI) -- Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Saturday warned failure to take a unified stand is dooming efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria.
Annan spoke at a summit meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, that includes representatives from the six permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Turkey, the European Union and the Arab League, CNN reported. Annan is the U.N. and Arab League special envoy for Syria.
Annan said some members of the United Nations had taken "national or collective initiatives of their own," a remark apparently aimed at Russia and China.
"The way things have been going thus far -- we are not helping anyone," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a one-on-one meeting that failed to reach any agreement. Russia has said it fears Syria will dissolve into civil war if President Bashar Assad is forced out.
Syria agreed to a cease-fire with the opposition in April as part of Annan's peace plan. But a Syrian human-rights group reported about 4,700 of the 15,800 killed since the 16-month uprising against Assad started have died since the cease-fire began in mid-April, the BBC said.
More than 180 people were killed in Syria Friday, rights groups said.
Syrian forces shelled a suburb of Damascus and the city of Homs, rights groups said.
The conference in Geneva includes the five members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Russia, Great Britain, China and France -- as well as Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar.
Meanwhile, Assad told Iranian TV he would reject any solution to the Syrian violence imposed from outside the country.
He called the crisis an "internal issue" that has "nothing to do with foreign countries."
Assad has repeatedly blamed foreign "terrorists" for the violence in Syria.
