|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Annan Sets Timetable for Syrian Withdrawl NewsMax.com WiresUNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday that he expects Syria to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon before Lebanese parliamentary elections in April and May, marking the first time he has set a specific timetable for Damascus. Annan's timeline was released in a written statement after the secretary-general met with his special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, who recently visited the region as part of efforts to get Syria to adhere to U.N. Security Council resolution 1559. That resolution, passed last year, demands Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon. Story Continues Below Annan made explicit in the statement that the withdrawal would include "the intelligence apparatus and military assets." His call echoed one from President Bush, who has demanded that Syria withdraw all troops before the elections. "The secretary-general further stressed the great importance that these elections be free and fair and take place as schedule," Annan said in the statement read by his spokesman, Fred Eckhard. So far, Syria has pulled back army and intelligence agents to eastern Lebanon, with about 4,000 troops having crossed into Syria. About 10,000 troops remain along the Lebanese side of the border, and a date for a full withdrawal is to be set at a meeting of Syrian and Lebanese officers scheduled for April 7. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Roed-Larsen would not say whether Syria had agreed to the timetable outlined by Annan. But on Saturday, Roed-Larsen indicated after meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad that he had extracted details of a pullout timetable from Assad himself. Roed-Larsen said then he would take those details back to U.N. headquarters. Roed-Larsen also told reporters that Annan had not specified how the withdrawal would be enforced but said it had wide backing from both "inside and outside the Security Council." "There isn't an 'or else' — we simply expect that it happens," Roed-Larsen said, adding that Assad had given him "a clear and unequivocal commitment that he would meet his obligations under Security Council resolution 1559." The resolution also calls for disarming militias in Lebanon — a clear reference to the group Hezbollah's military wing. Roed-Larsen said there had been no decision on how to accomplish that. Roed-Larsen said he would return to the region in early April to finish work on a report Annan will deliver to the Security Council later that month. Syria sent troops to its smaller neighbor in 1976 to help quell what was then a year-old civil war. The troops, at times numbering more than 35,000, remained after the war ended in 1990.
© 2005 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: |
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2009 NewsMax.Com |