Syria 'agrees UN peace plan'
Syria has accepted Kofi Annan’s plan to end the bloodshed in the country, the UN envoy said.
The plan includes a ceasefire by Syrian forces, a daily two-hour halt to fighting to evacuate injured people and provide humanitarian aid and inclusive talks about a political solution.
Mr Annan’s spokesman that the Syrian government’s acceptance of the proposal came in a letter addressed to the UN envoy.
More than 8,000 people have been killed in Syria’s yearlong uprising. There are concerns that the conflict could cause a regional conflagration.
Mr Annan, who also is an envoy for the Arab League, told reporters after meeting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that he had received a ``positive'' response from Syria as well as support from China, following a similar commitment from Russia over the weekend.
“We’ve had very good discussions about the situation in Syria. And they have offered me their full support,” he said.
Mr Wen said work on a solution to the crisis is at a “critical juncture,” adding that China backed Mr Annan’s efforts.
The support from China and Russia may have been important in nudging Syria on the plan, which has been endorsed by the UN Security Council in a non-binding presidential statement.
China and Russia have twice vetoed proposed UN sanctions over Mr Assad’s crackdown on the year-long uprising.
They called those proposed UN resolutions unbalanced, saying they blamed only the Syrian government and demanded an end to government attacks, but not ones by the opposition.
