The international envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, expects Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to implement his peace plan immediately, the former UN chief’s spokesman said yesterday.
“We expect him to implement this plan immediately. Clearly we have not seen a cessation of hostilities on the ground. This is our great concern,” the spokesman said, adding that the “deadline is now” for the Syrian regime to cease all violence.
Al-Assad has vowed to work to make a success of the six-point peace plan drawn up by the UN-Arab League envoy, Syrian state news agency SANA said on Thursday.
The plan calls for a commitment to stop all armed violence, a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire, media access to all areas affected by the fighting, an inclusive Syrian-led political process, a right to demonstrate, and release of arbitrarily detained people.
“It’s imperative that the killings stop and the human rights abuses stop and the violence stops,” Annan’s spokesman said.
“I can’t tell you what the next steps will be if they don’t stop now,” he said, adding that Annan was due to brief the UN Security Council on Monday and “we will take it from there.”
Annan is also working to convince the Syrian opposition to “lay down their arms and start talking,” the spokesman said.
Fresh clashes between Syrian soldiers and rebels erupted yesterday as the country’s relentless violence overshadowed hopes for the peace plan brokered by Annan.
The opposition is deeply skeptical that al-Assad will carry out Annan’s peace plan, saying he has accepted it just to win time while his forces continue their bloody campaign to crush the uprising.
Yesterday activists reported clashes in the northern Idlib Province and the restive central province of Homs. There was no immediate word on casualties.
At an Arab League summit in the Iraqi capital on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby discussed the Syrian crisis and Annan’s mission, and they agreed “that it was imperative for president [al-]Assad to match his commitments with action,” the UN spokesman’s office said.
Arab leaders at the summit issued a resolution calling on al-Assad’s regime to “immediately implement” Annan’s proposals.
In comments carried on Syria’s state news agency on Thursday, Assad said: “Syria will spare no effort to make [Annan’s] mission a success and hopes it would return security and stability to the country.’’
China yesterday backed al-Assad’s demands that Syrian rebels had to commit to talks and stop attacks.
“We’d like to call on Syria’s opposition to make responses as soon as possible to create conditions for opening dialogue and stopping violence,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) told a news conference yesterday.
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