Syria Says It Will Honor Kofi Annan's Ceasefire Plan - East Idaho News
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Syria Says It Will Honor Kofi Annan’s Ceasefire Plan

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Getty W 042511 SyriaProtest?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1333442279711KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The United Nations Security Council was informed Monday that Syria would end its year-long aggression against anti-government forces and withdraw from cities where most of the violence has taken place by April 10.

News of the ceasefire came from former Secretary General Kofi Annan, now acting as a special emissary who crafted the peace plan apparently adopted by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Annan said that he also had talks with pro-democracy activists who said they will stop their fighting once it appears that government forces have adhered to the ceasefire.

While this seems to be a major breakthrough in efforts to end a conflict that has cost 9,000 lives since March 2011, there were still doubts whether al-Assad will live up to his word, having made similar promises over the past year only to step up attacks on his political foes.

Indeed, Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. who also serves as Security Council president, told reporters, “We have seen promises made and promises broken.  We have seen commitments to end violence followed by massive intensification of violence.  The proof is in the actions, not the words.”

The U.N. would like to send a peacekeeping force to monitor the proposed ceasefire but may face stiff opposition from Damascus, which has thus far resisted all foreign intervention.

Al-Assad likely felt pressure to act after an international “Friends of Syria” conference in Istanbul, Turkey, last weekend suggested that the world community was ready to take stronger action to enact a ceasefire.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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