BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhuanet) -- International envoy Kofi Annan has met the Syrian foreign minister in Damascus. His message is that the Syrian government must take bold steps to signal that it is serious about solving the 14-month crisis that has seen thousands killed.
On arrival in Damascus, the UN-Arab League envoy met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem.
Driving Kofi Annan is Friday’s massacre in Houla that killed more than 100 people, a third of them children.
The mass killings have prompted sweeping international criticism of the Syrian government.
But world powers can’t agree on whether government forces were exclusively to blame.
For Annan, it’s a critical time for his cease-fire plan to end the bloodshed.
Kofi Annan, UN-Arab League Special Envoy, said, "I am personally shocked and horrified by the tragic incident in Houla two days ago, which took so many innocent lives - children, women and men. This was an appalling crime and the Security Council has rightly condemned it. And I extend my profound condolences and my heart felt sympathies to the families of the victims and to the wounded, in Houla, and throughout the country."
He said his message of peace was for "every individual with a gun".
The uprising against President Bashar al-Assad has engulfed Syria in violence. Annan brokered the April 12 ceasefire agreement, part of a six-point plan towards a negotiated solution.
But the truce has not held and hundreds of people have been killed in the last six weeks.
The UN ceasefire monitor mission is due to be 300-strong by the end of May. On Monday, it was continuing its field work, amid doubts about its effectiveness.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
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