Morsi to UN: Syrian Conflict "the Tragedy of Our Age"

Calls for replacement of regime, but without military intervention

Mohamed Morsi, addressing the United Nations as the first democratically chosen leader of Egypt, called the Syrian war "the tragedy of our age" for which the whole world was responsible – and accused the Assad regime of "killing its people night and day".

President Morsi called for the replacement of the regime with a democratic government representative of all the country's ethnic and religious groups, but said this should be done without outside military intervention. Instead, he pointed to a new diplomatic initiative begun by Egypt, Turkey and Iran, and called on other nations to join it.

Before discussing the Syrian conflict, Morsi said the UN should make a priority of addressing the plight of the Palestinian people, saying that it was "shameful" that successive UN resolutions on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories had not been enforced.