Annan Meets Clinton, Urges for 'Additional Pressure' on Syria
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, the author of a fledgling peace plan on Syria, called Friday for "additional pressure" in the wake of a new massacre as he held talks in the United States.
Opening a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the U.N.-Arab League envoy said he would discuss "how we can put additional pressure on the government and the parties to get the plan implemented."
Annan said that "everyone is looking for a solution" but acknowledged doubts about the deal he brokered, which calls for a ceasefire and dialogue to end more than a year of violence aimed at toppling President Bashar al-Assad.
"Some say the plan may be dead. Is the problem the plan or the problem is implementation? If it's implementation, how do we get back on track? And if it is the plan, what other options do we have?" Annan asked.
"All these questions are now being discussed and we are also exploring how we can work with other governments in the region and around the world to achieve our goals," he told reporters.
Russia, with support from China, has refused U.S. calls to put greater pressure on Assad, whose family's four-decade regime has been a key ally of Moscow since the Cold War era.
Annan previously called for international unity after activists said that at least 55 people were killed in an assault on the Sunni village of Al-Kubeir, the latest reported massacre blamed on pro-Assad forces.
U.N. observers earlier reached the site of the slaughter to investigate on Friday, a day after they were fired on as they approached the village.
Clinton, in brief remarks as she stood next to Annan, said she would speak to the former U.N. secretary-general about "how to engender greater response by the government of Syria to the six-point plan that he has put forth."
President Barack Obama's administration has repeatedly urged Assad to step down, saying he has lost credibility. On a visit to Turkey on Thursday, Clinton called the violence in Syria "unconscionable."
But the Obama administration has ruled out the use of U.S. force in Syria, amid weariness in the United States over a decade of war in Afghanistan and military interventions in Iraq and Libya
Source: Agence France Presse
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