Syria start implementing peace plan by April 10

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to start implementing peace plan by April 10. UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan told the UN Security Council on Monday there has been no progress yet in halting the bloodshed. Annan appealed to the 15-member council to back the deadline to increase pressure on the Syrian government to halt its offensive against the opposition, diplomats at a closed-doors briefing by the special envoy told AFP. Syria has agreed to start partially implementing his peace plan by April 10 and that there should be a "full cessation of hostilities" within 48 hours, Annan told the council. The Syrian government would start by halting the movement of troops into cities, withdrawing heavy weapons from cities and starting to pull back troops. Annan told the council there has been "no progress" so far on reaching a ceasefire or implementing his six-point peace plan, one diplomat said. Annan also said the Security Council had to start considering the deployment of an observer mission to monitor events in Syria. The UN says more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria over the past year while Syrian rights activists put the death toll at more than 10,000. Arab and western nations have called for a deadline to be imposed on Assad, but Russia, Syria s last major ally and a permanent member of the Security Council, has rejected the calls. Annan went to Damascus this month to meet Assad for talks and has since been in contact with the Syrian government to demand that it start moves to halt the violence. The Syrian president has accepted Annan s plan but so far made no move to carry it out. His government has insisted there has to be peaceful conditions before it can halt its operations in protest cities. A Friends of Syria meeting of about 80 countries including the United States, Arab and European nations called on Sunday for a deadline to be imposed against Assad. France reaffirmed the need for a deadline on Monday. But Russia, which along with China has vetoed two Security Council resolutions, has strongly rejected the calls. "Ultimatums and artificial deadlines rarely help matters," Russia s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said while on a visit to Armenia. "Annan has a Security Council mandate and it is up to the UN Security Council to decide who is complying with this plan and how," he said. Lavrov said the peace plan would not work unless rebel forces also agreed to halt fire. "The demands should be put to all sides of the barricades," Lavrov said. "We intend to be friends with both sides in Syria," he added in reference to Russia s past support for Assad. Any sending of a UN-backed observer mission to Syria would require a UN Security Council resolution which Russia could block as one of the five permanent members of the council.-