iChat - Syria envoy holds new talks with Assad___aikmantom aikmantom - Mon Jul 09, 2012 6:25 pm Post subject: Syria envoy holds new talks with Assad___aikmantom
Syria envoy holds new talks with Assad___aikmantom
Kofi Annan says he will present a new approach to ending Syria's conflict to the rebels following his talks with President Bashar al-Assad.MBT
Stepping up efforts to halt the carnage, which monitors say has cost more than 17,000 lives, the UN-Arab League envoy then travelled to Iran, Syria's closest regional ally, in his quest to broker a solution.
'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,' Annan said after meeting Assad. MBT Shoes Australia
The former UN chief said they had a 'constructive' meeting on his third such mission for talks on his six-point peace plan since his appointment in February.
Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi also called the meeting 'constructive and good'. MBT Shoes Clearance
Pro-government Al-Watan newspaper said the talks focused on the results of the Geneva meeting at the end of June of an international contact group on Syria.
They discussed means 'to implement the results of the meeting ... on forming a transitional government in Syria that groups government and opposition representatives without mention of Assad's departure'.
World powers in Geneva agreed a plan for a transition that did not make an explicit call for Assad to quit, although the West and the opposition made clear it saw no role for him in a unity government.
Monday's meetings came as at least 58 people were killed nationwide, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, a day after nearly 100 people died.
The army pounded besieged rebel-held areas of Homs, monitors said, as Qusayr also came under a morning bombardment. Cheap MBT Shoes
The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) slammed Annan's decision to meet Assad, saying thousands of people have been killed despite an April ceasefire that is a key point of the envoy's plan.
Annan, whose military observers in Syria have been grounded because of escalating violence, admitted in remarks published by French newspaper Le Monde ahead of his Damascus trip that his peace blueprint has so far foundered.
He also expressed frustration that while Moscow and Iran are mentioned by some as stumbling blocks to peace, 'little is said about other countries which send arms, money, and have a presence on the ground'.
