UN envoy Annan in Syria for peace talks

UN envoy Kofi Annan landed in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday to hold a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad following admittance that his six-point peace plan was failing.

The move, however, was criticised by Syrian National Council (SNC) saying thousands have been killed despite the ceasefire as part of the envoy’s plan.

Prior to the meeting, President Assad told German broadcaster ARD that many countries were undermining Anan’s peace initiative before singling out USA. He said: “The United States is part of the conflict. They offer the umbrella and political support to those gangs to […] destabilise Syria.”

Despite the some disapproval, the meeting went ahead today. After the meeting, Mr Annan said: “We discussed the need to end the violence and ways and means of doing so. We agreed an approach which I will share with the armed opposition.”

“President Assad reassured me of the government’s commitment to the six-point plan which, of course, we should move ahead to implement in a much better fashion than has been the situation so far.”

A Syrian foreign ministry spokesman, Jihad al-Makdisi, agreed with Mr Annan as he categorised the meeting as being “constructive and good”.

Mr Makdisi told the press that both men focused on the implementation of the peace plan.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human, the number of people to have lost their lives after the announcement was 5,898 while more than 17,000 people have lost their lives since the beginning of uprising in March last year.

Rajeeb Gurung