DOHA - Kofi
Annan, the joint United Nations-Arab League envoy
to Syria, has admitted that his peace plan is
failing and that the country's future will consist
of "brutal suppression, massacres, sectarian
violence and even all-out civil war" if it
continues on its current path.
In a speech
to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Annan
confirmed that massacres of civilians have taken
place in the towns of Houla and al-Qubayr. While
not assigning blame for the mass killings, the
former UN secretary general said that the
government, not the armed opposition, had the
"first responsibility" to halt violence.
"I must be frank and confirm that the
[six-point peace] plan [proposed by Annan] is not
being implemented," he said.
He said that
despite urging President Bashar al-Assad to "make
a strategic decision to change his path", the
government's shelling
of cities had continued,
and government-backed militias "seem to have free
reign, with appalling consequences".
"The
international community has united, but it now
must take that unity to a new level," Annan said.
"It must be made clear that there will be
consequences if compliance is not forthcoming."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking
before Annan, said UN monitors seeking to reach
al-Qubayr on Thursday, the day after the massacre
there, came under fire from small arms.
Earlier, Norwegian General Robert Mood
said in a statement that the observers - who are
authorized by the Syrian government - were being
stopped and in some cases turned back at Syrian
army checkpoints.
Syria's UN envoy, Bashar
Jaafari, said the government was investigating the
massacres and that international television
stations had broadcast false images of the
victims. He accused the armed opposition of
assassinations, bombings and massacres and alleged
that foreign countries were funneling money to
Salafist and terrorist groups.
"The
government of Syria extends political
reconciliation to all forces whose hands are not
stained by blood," he said.
He said some
UN patrols were also being stopped by civilians,
and that some residents in the area of the alleged
massacre said the observers would be at risk if
they entered.
Government blames
'terrorists' The UN mission dispatched
observers after receiving reports of a mass
killing in al-Qubayr, a small village. Opposition
activists said that pro-government armed groups
backed by security forces killed scores of people
there.
The Local Co-ordination Committees,
a Syrian activist network, and the UK-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that more
than 86 people had died. Syria's government denied
any role in the killings.
"What a few
media have reported on what happened in al-Qubayr,
in the Hama region, is completely false," the
government said in a statement on official
television.
"A terrorist group committed a
heinous crime in the Hama region which claimed
nine victims. The reports by the media are
contributing to spilling the blood of Syrians,"
the statement said.
'Atmosphere of
terror' Mousab al-Hamadee, an activist in
Hama, told Al Jazeera that the attack bore
similarities to last month's massacre in Houla,
and said the government was seeking to create an
"atmosphere of terror and intimidation".
He said the Syrian army had prepared the
way by shelling the area before pro-government
gangs descended on the village.
"Most of
victims were burnt in their houses, many of them
were slaughtered by knives in a very ugly way," he
said, adding that women and children were among
the dead.
He also criticized the role of
the UN monitoring mission.
"Unfortunately
they do nothing to protect us, they just come the
next day after the massacres to film the corpses
and see how we bury our victims. They are just
watching us die," he said.
Manhal
Abu-Bakar, another Hama-based activist, told Al
Jazeera that Syrian tanks began shelling al-Qubayr
on Wednesday afternoon. Pro-government militias
from nearby villages then drove into the village,
executing some people in a manner similar to the
killings carried out in Houla on May 25, he said.
"There were 35 persons from one family.
Those persons have all been killed and most of
them are women and children," he said.
Reports of the alleged massacre prompted
the opposition Syrian National Council to issue a
statement calling on fighters aligned with the
anti-government Free Syrian Army to "escalate
battlefield action" to ease pressure on civilians
"under siege, shelling and assaults in the
provinces of Hama, Latakia and Homs".
'Full transfer of power' On the
diplomatic front, Western and Arab countries have
met in Istanbul, Turkey, to discuss the crisis in
Syria.
A US official said Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton had told the group that a
transition in the country should include a "full
transfer of power" from Assad, the creation of a
fully representative interim government, and free
and fair elections.
France said it would
host a full Friends of Syria meeting in Paris on
July 6, while France and the UK rebuffed a Russian
proposal for an international conference on Syria
that would include Iran, Damascus' key ally.
"I think the inclusion of Iran in any such
group would probably render it unworkable," said
William Hague, the British foreign secretary.
"This is a country that is supporting some
of the unacceptable violence and supporting the
Syrian regime in what it is doing to the Syrian
people and that would cause a great difficulty."
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