BEIRUT: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Sunday called on Syria’s President Bashar Assad to stop killing his own people, in keeping with the wave of change that has altered the region in the past year.

Ban’s comments were part of the keynote address at a U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia conference on “Reform and Transitions to Democracy” at Beirut’s Phoenicia Hotel. The speech was the final act of his three-day visit to Lebanon, during which he has been visiting with Lebanese and U.N. officials.

“I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end,” Ban said. The U.N. estimates that over 5,000 people have died in Assad’s 10-month crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Ban continued that “the lessons of the past year are eloquent and clear: The winds of change will not cease to blow. The flame ignited in Tunisia will not be dimmed.”

As Ban noted, Tunisia’s president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali stepped down Jan. 14, 2011, almost exactly a year ago, following a popular uprising.

In words that drew applause from the audience, the U.N. head said “the Israeli occupation of Arab and Palestinian territories must end. So must violence against civilians. Settlements, new and old, are illegal. They work against the emergence of a viable Palestinian state.”

Calling a two-state solution “long overdue,” Ban said that the “status quo offers the guarantee of future conflict.”

Prime Minister Najib Mikati spoke at the opening of the two-day meeting, which a bevy of high-ranking Arab officials and activists are attending, including the Tunisian and Turkish Foreign Ministers Rafik Abdel Salam and Ahmed Davutoglu along with former Palestinian Minister Hanan Ashrawi.

Two Egyptian presidential hopefuls, former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh are in Beirut for the event.

Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Education Minister Hassan Diab and a host of MPs were also on hand.

Mikati said that Lebanon has the right to liberate its land from Israeli occupation, adding that his country is in the process of carrying out reforms to achieve democracy.

“Lebanon, which committed to respecting international resolutions, commits to fully implementing [U.N. Security Council] Resolution 1701 without any distinction or selectivity, reserving its legitimate right to liberate its occupied land by all available means,” Mikati said.

The prime minister also slammed Israel’s repeated violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty and human rights and its continued occupations of Arab lands in Palestine, which he dubbed as the “central cause and the key to the solution.”

“Israel, who claims to be a democratic state, occupies the land of another people, settles in their land, takes over their resources and exercises racial discrimination without deterrence,” Mikati said.

“It does not hesitate to breach or ignore international resolutions and norms, while violating solemnly the most basic human rights and principles,” he added.

“In this context, we look forward to the United Nations being more just in its international resolutions and imposing their implementation.”

Mikati touched on Israel’s continuous violation of Lebanese sovereignty by land, sea and air and its occupation of the Shabaa Farms, Kfar Shouba hills and the northern part of Ghajar.

Mikati also said that his government was currently working on implementing administrative reform to achieve a more representative, democratic system.

“The Lebanese government has focused its priorities on administrative reform, good governance and the development of a democratic system through drafting a new electoral law for parliamentary elections which guarantees proper and balanced representation for all components of Lebanese society,” Mikati said.

“Our government is determined to undertake leading reform steps regardless of how difficult the path may be,” he added.

Mikati’s Cabinet is currently studying a new electoral law based on proportional representation for implementation in the 2013 parliamentary elections. The draft has stoked opposition with some lawmakers who prefer the existing winner takes all system.

Mikati also spoke of changes in the region and said democracy has become the will of the people and should not be avoided, suggesting a joint Arab plan to meet the demands of the masses and implement reform.

Democracy, continued Mikati, could not be enhanced without “changing mentality and the building of the strong, capable and just state, reforming institutions and developing the economy.”

Speaking to a gathering of journalists several hours after the session, Moussa said he supported the discussion at the Arab League of a plan posed by Qatar’s leader Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to send an Arab military force to intervene in Syria.

“The [Arab League] council will meet soon, I do not know when ... to study the issue of replacing the monitoring mission with an Arab military force to separate between the army and civilians,” he said.

Moussa said the meeting should be held very soon to study the matter because the situation in Syria “will not endure slow action.”

Touching on Egypt’s presidential elections, Moussa said that if he were to win the elections, his first action would be to lift the state of emergency in the country.

The meeting will continue Monday with a roundtable on future prospects for the Arab region entitled “The Horizons of Future in the Arab Region.”

In addition to those listed as official participants, politicians such as Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt could be spotted hanging around the hotel’s water fountain, greeting a number of Lebanese and Arab officials.