UN envoy in Moscow to push for Syrian peace plan

UN-ARAB League peace envoy Kofi Annan has met Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow as Syrian troops fought rebels in Homs, Deraa and Deir al-Zor and rebels reportedly fired rocket-propelled grenades at a military base near Damascus.

Mr Medvedev yesterday warned that Mr Annan’s mission “may be the last chance for Syria to avoid a protracted and bloody civil war” and offered him Moscow’s support “on all levels”.

Mr Annan said he expected Russia to play an “active” role in ensuring that both government and rebels adhere to his Security Council-supported peace plan. He is due in Beijing tomorrow.

Convinced that the west is fuelling the conflict by aiding the opposition, Moscow said it was prepared to exert pressure on the Syrian government to halt its campaign to crush dissent and armed rebellion after “external armed and political support of the opposition is terminated”. This is unlikely.

During a meeting at the nuclear summit in South Korea, US president Barack Obama and Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to provide “non-lethal” assistance, including communications equipment and medical supplies, to the rebels.

More aid is expected to be discussed during a “Friends of Syria” gathering in Istanbul on April 1st.

Syria’s neighbour Lebanon has distanced itself from the “Friends” and the Arab League. Its foreign minister Adnan Mansour said Beirut rejected military action and sanctions as means of resolving the Syrian crisis and insisted that dialogue was the only solution, adopting the line pursued by Moscow, Beijing and Mr Annan.

Human Rights Watch has accused Syrian troops who are mopping up rebels in the north-western province of Idlib of endangering “local residents by forcing them to march in front of the army during recent operations, troop movements and attacks” on towns and villages.

The organisation, which called on the Security Council to refer the government to the International Criminal Court, based its charges on video provided by opposition activists and testimonies of locals.

Mr Annan’s plan calls for an immediate ceasefire by all sides, withdrawal of armour from urban areas, access to humanitarian aid, and dialogue between the regime and its opponents with the aim of reaching a negotiated solution to the year-long crisis.

Russia and China support this and the Syrian government has promised to co-operate.

However the expatriate Syrian National Council and the rebels have dismissed his mission as pointless while the west wavers.