Syria said on Sunday it would not pullback its forces from towns without written guarantees by armed groups, adding that April 10 was not an accurate date for the implementation of UN-Arab league envoy Kofi Annan plan.
The foreign ministry said in statement: “To say that Syria will pull back its forces from towns on April 10 is inaccurate, Kofi Annan having not yet presented written guarantees on the acceptance by armed terrorist groups of a halt to all violence”."Mr Annan has not submitted written guarantees from the governments of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on stopping their funding to terrorist groups," the ministry added.
"Syria is not going to repeat what happened in the presence of Arab observers when armed forces left towns," the ministry statement said.
"Armed terrorist groups reorganized and rearmed to control entire neighborhoods, committing every possible terrorist act, killing and kidnapping people and destroying public and private property."
It said that during his meeting in Damascus with President Bashar al-Assad, "Annan said his mission was based on respect for Syrian sovereignty."
"He said he would work to stop the violence, disarm armed groups... initiate a comprehensive national dialogue with opposition movements in Syria," the ministry said, adding that "it is this principle on which Syria accepted Annan's mission and his six-point plan."
The ministry also expressed Syria's willingness to cooperate with the envoy.
"Syria is ready to continue cooperating with Mr Annan and we will continue to inform him of the steps we are taking to implement the plan, in the hope of obtaining documented guarantees," it said.
DAMASCUS HASN'T INFORMED ANNAN OF APRIL 10 AS FINAL DATE
Meanwhile, Syrian Daily al-Watan quoted a high-ranking official as saying that Syria hasn’t informed Annan it would implement the peace plan in April 10 as a final date.However the official said Damascus has told the UN envoy it had withdrawn heavy weapons from several areas like Homs, Idlib and Zabadani, in order to continue the withdrawal of the remained units and not all till Aril 10.
The official also said that the date was considered as a challenge for Annan in order to make the other side comply with the plan.
“As Damascus has offered a written commitment of Annan proposal, it calls on him to offer written guarantees of the other side’s commitment”.
Source: Agencies
08-04-2012 - 12:36 Last updated 08-04-2012 - 12:53 |
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