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Annan visits Syria under shadow of massacre

UN-Arab envoy Kofi Annan headed to Damascus in a bid to salvage his battered peace plan a day after the UN condemned the Syrian regime's use of artillery in a massacre that killed more than 100 people.

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Source: AFP


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UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan has arrived in Damascus for talks with top officials, Syria's pro-government Al-Ikhbariya television reported.

The former UN chief was to meet Foreign Minister Walid Muallem later on Monday ahead of talks with President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, a Syrian official source said earlier, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was Annan's second visit to Syria since the start of his mission three months ago.

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It came after the UN Security Council on Sunday strongly condemned the Syrian government for using artillery in a massacre in which at least 108 people were killed in the central town of Houla.

Annan first visited Syria as special envoy on March 10.

His six-point peace plan was supposed to begin with a ceasefire from April 12 but, despite the deployment of a UN military observer mission, it has failed to take hold.


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