* Annan sets precise ceasefire deadline for April 12
* Norwegian U.N. official discusses monitoring mission
* Syria’s army withdrawal claim disputed by opposition
* Refugee flow to Turkey accelerates
By Erika Solomon and Louis Charbonneau
BEIRUT/UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Reuters) – U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that Syria’s
conflict is deepening and attacks on civilian areas show no sign
of abating, despite assurances from Damascus that it has begun
withdrawing troops under an international peace plan.
Residents of at least one area under fire from the forces of
President Bashar al-Assad poured scorn on the official
assertions that troops were pulling back in several cities
before a ceasefire which is supposes to start on April 10.
International envoy Kofi Annan, whose plan aims to end a
year of bloodshed during the uprising against Assad, said that
“more far-reaching action is urgently required” to silence the
tanks and halt all forms of violence.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council, Ban gave a
pessimistic assessment of the situation in Syria.
“Despite the Syrian government’s acceptance of the joint
special envoy’s plan of initial proposals to resolve the crisis,
the violence and assaults in civilian areas have not stopped.
The situation on the ground continues to deteriorate,” Ban said.
The United Nations says Assad’s forces have killed more than
9,000 people in the conflict which began with peaceful protests,
although armed rebels later began fighting back. Syria told the
world body this week that 6,044 had died, including 2,566
soldiers and police.
The Security Council agreed on Thursday to a statement
urging Syria to meet Annan’s deadline.
Annan, a joint envoy of the U.N. and Arab League, said both
the government and opposition must stop fighting at 6:00 a.m.
local time on April 12, if Damascus meets its deadline next
Thursday to silence its weapons.
“I urge 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,”
Annan told the U.N. General Assembly by video link from Geneva.
“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,” he said.
ACTION URGENTLY REQUIRED
Annan, a former U.N. chief, said Damascus had told him troop
withdrawals were underway, but he said more needed to be done.
“The government has informed me of partial withdrawals from
three locations – Idlib, Zabadani, and Deraa. I await further
action and fuller information,” he said.
“The government has indicated that it will continue to
update me on steps it is taking. But it is clear that more
far-reaching action is urgently required.”
One Zabadani resident said no significant withdrawal was
underway. “They are complete liars, there is no army withdrawal,
they are still in the middle of the city. They fired on the city
this morning, like they do every day,” a man calling himself Abu
Mustafa said by telephone from Zabadani near the Lebanon border.
“The army withdrew 15 tanks yesterday, but the rest are all
around the checkpoints as usual,” Abu Mustafa said.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported
that at least 33 people, including 14 soldiers, were killed on
Thursday, 16 of them in the city of Homs and 14 in Idlib
province.
Video taken by activists just outside Aleppo, Syria’s second
city, showed five tanks and armoured personnel carriers firing
heavy machine guns as they advanced through a village.
A diplomatic face-off intensified between Syria’s ally
Russia and Western powers who want Assad to go. France accused
the 46-year-old Syrian leader of cheating on his promises, while
Moscow told opposition supporters abroad not to set ultimatums.
More than 42,000 Syrians have fled the country since the
uprising began. Turkey said more than 1,600 had crossed the
border in the last two days, twice the recent average rate.
Blasts and gunfire rocked Douma and activists said army
reinforcements headed for the town near Damascus shortly before
a senior U.N. peacekeeping official arrived in the capital.
Norwegian Army former Chief of Staff Major-General Robert
Mood brought an advance planning team of 10 to decide how around
250 U.N. monitors might oversee the truce between army and
insurgents if it takes effect by next Thursday.
Some analysts say any arrival of men in U.N. blue helmets
will embolden a return to mass protests, as happened when an
Arab League monitoring mission began operating in Syria in
December. It was later withdrawn as violence increased.
Mood has experience of armed U.N. peacekeeping operations in
Kosovo, where around 60,000 troops were deployed in 1999 after a
ceasefire and army withdrawal agreement were already in place.
In Syria, where Western powers have ruled out military
intervention, Annan envisages only unarmed U.N. monitors.
QUEST FOR CONTRIBUTORS
U.N. member states were already being asked to provide
troops for the mission, Annan’s spokesman said. Annan will hold
talks on Syria in Iran, Assad’s main regional ally, on April 11,
he added.
Annan has assiduously sought backing from Assad’s friends as
well as his foes for his difficult peace mission.
Russia said it could support the new Security Council
statement backing Annan’s timeline for a ceasefire if it does
not level “threats and ultimatums” against Assad.
“The Syrian government has accepted (Annan’s) proposals and
has begun implementing them, and it is very important not to
undermine this process with ultimatums and threats,” Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
Syria’s state news agency quoted Lavrov as telling Annan by
telephone that “not only the Syrian authorities, but also the
opposition” must take steps to implement the envoy’s peace plan.
Russia has taken a pro-Assad tone, but some diplomats say
Moscow has grown increasingly frustrated with Damascus and its
failure to end the uprising, even as it denounces Western, Arab
and Turkish calls for the Syrian leader to quit.
