Annan Asks Syria to Stop Using Heavy Weapons
U.N. envoy Kofi Annan on Sunday asked the Damascus regime and the opposition to immediately halt violence and the use of heavy weapons.
"I urge all forces whether governmental, opposition or others to put down their weapons and work with the United Nations monitors to consolidate the fragile cessation of violence in all its forms," Annan said in a statement.
"The government in particular must desist from the use of heavy weapons and, as it has committed, withdraw such weapons and armed units from population centers and implement fully its commitments under the six-point plan."
Annan welcomed a U.N. plan to send 300 unarmed ceasefire observers to Syria, saying: "The work of the mission should help create the conditions conducive to launching the much-needed political process, which would address the legitimate concerns and aspirations of the Syrian people.
"I call on the government and the opposition and all the people of Syria to prepare to engage in such a process as a matter of utmost priority."
Only days after being deployed, the team of seven observers in Syria acknowledged they faced a tough task to firm up the ceasefire agreed to last week by embattled President Bashar Assad.
A spike in violence had already forced the Arab League to end its own Syrian monitoring mission in late January, barely a month after it was launched.
Source: Agence France Presse
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