Post date: Mar 10, 2012 11:48:56 AM
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (MARCH 10, 2012) (SYRIAN TV - U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan began talks with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday (March 10).
U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan meets Bashar al-Assad in Damascus to press the Syrian president for a political solution to Syria's year-long uprising and bloody crackdown in which thousands of people have been killed.
Annan was expected to press his host for a ceasefire and a political solution to a year of unrest in which thousands of people have been killed.
Annan had discussed his mission with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby.
Ban had urged Annan to ensure that there must be an immediate ceasefire in Syria. After a ceasefire, he said, there should be "inclusive political solutions" found through dialogue.
Annan also plans to meet the Syrian opposition before leaving the country on Sunday.
He has called for a political solution, but dissidents say the time for dialogue has passed.
Annan's trip to Damascus followed a violent day in which activists said Assad's forces killed at least 72 people as they bombarded parts of the rebellious city of Homs and sought to
deter demonstrators and crush insurgents elsewhere.
Decisive victory has eluded both sides in an increasingly deadly struggle that began as a mainly peaceful protest movement a year ago and now appears to be sliding into civil war.
Arab foreign ministers were due to hold talks in Cairo with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia and China vetoed a U.N. draft resolution last month which would have backed an Arab League plan calling for Assad to step aside.