Move to build on ceasefire with dispatch of monitors

UN-ARAB LEAGUE envoy Kofi Annan is moving to build on the Syrian ceasefire he brokered, which was largely observed yesterday although troops and tanks had not been withdrawn from population centres.

Mr Annan is set to send Norwegian general Robert Mood and his team to Syria today to prepare for a monitoring mission as the UN Security Council prepares to approve a resolution authorising the dispatch of the monitors as soon as possible.

Mr Annan told the security council yesterday: “I am encouraged by reports that the situation in Syria is relatively calm and that the cessation of hostilities appears to be holding. This is bringing much-needed relief and hope to the Syrian people, who have suffered so much for so long in this brutal conflict. This must now be sustained.”

However, he said the Syrian government must withdraw troops and heavy weapons from urban centres and halt all military operations.

“All parties have obligations to implement fully the six-point plan. This includes both the military provisions of the plan and the commitment to a political process.”

Armed rebels also have to end attacks on troops, public and private property and individuals, and the political opposition, which is divided over whether or not to negotiate with the government, has to enter into talks with the regime on a transition from Baath party to multiparty rule.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said the truce marked a “critical moment” in the peace process. “I’d really like to see this ceasefire . . . sustained . . . The world is watching . . . with sceptical eyes since previous promises made by the government . . . have not been kept.”

Regime allies China and Russia welcomed the ceasefire, but Mos- cow said time was needed for the fragile truce to take hold and warned that mass anti-regime protests could be seen as provocation.

US president Barack Obama and French president Nicolas Sar- kozy called on Syria to end the “brutal crackdown”. German chancellor Angela Merkel, together with Mr Obama, agreed the security council should take “more resolute” action against Damascus.

Opposition spokesmen said a storm of shells struck Homs be- fore the dawn truce. During the day, anti-regime activists reported three people killed and 27 injured in Homs and Hama. Checkpoints were said to have been reinforced and snipers allegedly stayed in place while security units apparently combed the Damascus suburb of Maadamiya for rebels. Protests were reported at universities in the city of Deraa and the eastern oil hub of Deir al-Zor.

Syrian state media said “terrorists” blew up a bus in Aleppo, killing an officer and wounding 24 military cadets. The government claimed 160 rebels had surrendered and handed in weapons.

Bassma Kodmani, spokeswoman of the expatriate Syrian National Council (SNC), said the “test . . . is if people can go and demonstrate peacefully. This is the real reality check.”

This test could come today if protesters pour on to the streets after Friday prayers at mosques. SNC chairman Burhan Ghalioun urged Syrians to protest peacefully and compel the government and the international community to assume their responsibilities.

Foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the government was “fully committed to the ceasefire” and said President Bashar al-Assad retained the backing of a “majority” of the people.

The interior ministry urged Syrians who had fled the country to return and offered an amnesty to rebels without “blood on their hands”.

The rebel Free Syrian Army declared it was “100 per cent committed” to the ceasefire and said it would not be provoked by the regime into breaking the truce.