Damascus sees no deadline to withdraw troops: media

Gus.chong SG

DAMASCUS: The Syrian regime is not bound by a deadline to withdraw its troops from strife-torn areas, pro-government daily Al-Watan on Thursday quoted a government official as saying.

"There is no set date or deadline," the unnamed official said.

"April 10 is the date set for the beginning, not the end, of the withdrawal of troops and it does not constitute a deadline."

The United Nations had announced earlier this week that Damascus agreed to complete the withdrawal of regime forces from populated centres by April 10, in accordance with a peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

But activists on the ground and monitors say the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was clearly not honouring the accord given the continued troop deployments and violence across the country.

The official quoted by Al-Watan said the Syrian foreign ministry had linked the troop withdrawal to a commitment by rebels to also honour Annan's six-point peace plan, aimed at ending one year of violence that has left more than 9,000 people dead, according to the United Nations.

Annan's spokesman said on Thursday that the former UN chief expects both the Syrian government and the opposition to fully implement the ceasefire agreement by April 12.

"What we expect on April 10 is that the Syrian government will have completed its withdrawal from populated centres ... and then we begin a 48-hour period during which there will be a complete cessation of all forms of violence by all parties," Ahmad Fawzi told reporters in Geneva.

"So the clock starts ticking on the 10th on both sides to cease all forms of violence," he added.

The Syrian regime has told Annan that it has begun withdrawing troops from some parts of the country, said Fawzi, adding that "we are in the process of verification."

An advance team dispatched by Annan to pave the way for peacekeepers is expected to arrive in Damascus on Thursday.

They will "begin discussing with the Syrian authorities the modalities of the eventual deployment of this UN supervision and monitoring mission," said Fawzi.

- AFP/cc

Gus.chong SG

Annan team in Damascus as UN backs truce ultimatum

DAMASCUS: A UN team sent by peace broker Kofi Annan arrived in Syria on Thursday to pave the way for observers, as the Security Council backed an April 10 deadline for the regime to end its deadly crackdown.

The developments occurred as Annan said the Syrian government had announced a partial withdrawal from protest cities, but that this had not been confirmed and that "alarming levels" of deaths were still being reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there was no sign of withdrawals, with regime forces launching fresh assaults on rebel strongholds, and that 38 people were killed nationwide, among them 17 civilians.

The advance UN team headed by Norwegian General Robert Mood, a Middle East specialist, will discuss with the authorities "the modalities of the eventual deployment of the UN supervising mission," Annan spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said.

Annan told the Security Council on Monday it should consider whether to send a mission to monitor events in Syria, where activists say more than 10,000 people have been killed since March 2011 in the crackdown on dissent.

Fawzi said the observers can be sent only after a Security Council resolution ordering their deployment.

The council formally backed the April 10 deadline that former UN chief Annan agreed with Damascus to end its military offensive on protest cities.

A statement called on Damascus to "begin pullback of military concentrations in and around population centres, and to fulfil these in their entirety by no later than April 10, 2012."

It also called "upon all parties, including the opposition, to cease armed violence in all its forms" within 48 hours of the above being implemented.

In remarks to the UN General Assembly, Annan urged the "government and the opposition commanders to issue clear instructions so that the message reaches across the country down to the fighter and soldier at the local level.

"It is clear that more far-reaching action is urgently required. Immediate and verifiable steps are needed to complete implementation of commitments in the crucial days ahead," he said.

"We must silence the tanks, helicopters, mortars, guns and stop all other forms of violence too: sexual abuse, torture, executions, abductions, destruction of homes, forced displacement and other abuses including on children."

Annan said opposition groups his team had spoken to had "committed to call for cessation of violence once the Syrian government has demonstrably fulfilled its commitments."

Annan spokesman Fawzi said in Geneva that "what we expect on April 10 is that the Syrian government will have completed its withdrawal from populated centres... and then we begin a 48-hour period during which there will be a complete cessation of all forms of violence by all parties.

"So the clock starts ticking on the 10th on both sides to cease all forms of violence."

Yet pro-government daily Al-Watan quoted an unnamed government official as saying Damascus is not bound by a deadline.

"April 10 is the date set for the beginning, not the end, of the withdrawal of troops and it does not constitute a deadline," it said.

On the ground, the Observatory said plumes of smoke could be seen near the main mosque in Douma just outside Damascus as troop reinforcements were sent in.

Two young men were killed in Kfar Sousa, a neighbourhood of Damascus, when security forces opened fire on their car, it said.

And two children were among four civilians killed in bombardment of the rebel town of Rastan in central Homs province.

In the city of Homs, eight regime forces were killed and dozens wounded, and at least eight people killed in fighting in Idlib province along with at least six regime forces, the Observatory said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he had little confidence Annan's plan would end the repression.

"Can we be optimistic? I'm not," Juppe told reporters in Paris.

"I think Bashar Al-Assad is cheating us. He is pretending to accept Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan but at the same time he continues to use force."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the West against issuing ultimatums to Damascus.

"The Syrian government has accepted (Annan's) proposals, has begun implementing them, and it is very important right now not to undermine this process through ultimatums and threats and unfortunately there are those who'd like to do that," he said.

The foreign ministry said Lavrov told Annan by telephone that Moscow backed Thursday's Security Council statement with the understanding that a second deadline for the opposition to lay down weapons would also be imposed.

The surge in violence has sent Syrians fleeing, with an official in Ankara saying more than 1,000 people had crossed the border in the past 24 hours, bringing to nearly 21,000 the number of Syrian refugees now in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Syria has agreed to provide access to detention facilities throughout the country, International Committee of the Red Cross chief Jakob Kellenberger said on Thursday after a two-day visit to Damascus.

-AFP/ac