Former U.N. Secretary-General and special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan, left, meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Great Hall of People in Beijing March 27, 2012.
...U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes (click title to entry - thank you) said Tuesday there is a basic structure in place to discuss with Russia and China what they can do to support Annan.
"I think we felt like we made some progress with regard to Syria in that, despite the differences that we've had -- and they continue with regard to Syria -- there is the framework for cooperation through the Kofi Annan initiative which, again, at the very least, provides a framework for stopping the violence, initiating greater humanitarian access to the people of Syria and initiating a transition in that country," Rhodes said. "Again, we believe very strongly that that transition has to involve Assad leaving power."
In Istanbul, Syrian opposition groups are meeting in an effort to forge a united front before a major conference April 1.
Opposition member Bassam Jaara said Tuesday the meeting is an important dialogue between different sides of the opposition as they work to revise their structure....
"I think we felt like we made some progress with regard to Syria in that, despite the differences that we've had -- and they continue with regard to Syria -- there is the framework for cooperation through the Kofi Annan initiative which, again, at the very least, provides a framework for stopping the violence, initiating greater humanitarian access to the people of Syria and initiating a transition in that country," Rhodes said. "Again, we believe very strongly that that transition has to involve Assad leaving power."
In Istanbul, Syrian opposition groups are meeting in an effort to forge a united front before a major conference April 1.
Opposition member Bassam Jaara said Tuesday the meeting is an important dialogue between different sides of the opposition as they work to revise their structure....
..."Experts, officials and observers (click here) are unanimous that weapons are being smuggled into Syrian territory from bordering States, including Lebanon," Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said in a letter sent last week to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
He said there had been multiple "confiscations of weapons, explosives and explosive devices smuggled from Lebanon to Syria by certain Lebanese political forces linked to terrorist groups funded and armed from abroad."
He gave no details about which countries or "Lebanese political forces" were arming and funding Syrian rebels....
Human Right Commission not provided access to Syria to conduct work.
Human Right Commission not provided access to Syria to conduct work.
...Yakin Ertuk of Turkey told Reuters (click here) that she felt there was no point in continuing on the panel, whose mandate the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council decided on Friday to extend through the 47-nation body's September session.
"The commission cannot do comprehensive work and investigate (certain) areas because of no access, so I decided not to continue," Ertuk said in a telephone interview.
She made clear her resignation was not a criticism of the work of the panel, which she said had done everything possible under the circumstances to establish the kinds of crimes that the Syrian government has committed over the last year....
It would seem all parties are in agreement with Mr. Annan's initiative.
It would seem all parties are in agreement with Mr. Annan's initiative.
PARIS—A member of the Syrian National Council (click here) says the opposition welcomes the government's acceptance of a U.N. peace plan.
Bassma Kodmani told The Associated Press by telephone Tuesday that "we welcome all acceptance by the regime of a plan that could allow the repression and bloodbath to stop."
She is a Paris-based member of the opposition Syrian National Council.
She added, "we hope that we can move toward a peace process."...
