Annan: Cease violence

Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League point man on Syria, urged the Bashar al-Assad regime Thursday to put a stop to violence and implement his 6-point plan for peace. “All points of the plan are crucial, but one is most urgent: the need for cessation of violence,” he said. He added, “Clearly, the violence is still continuing. Alarming levels of casualties and other abuses continue to be reported daily. Military operations in civilian populations have not stopped….We must silence the tanks, helicopters, mortars and guns, and stop all other forms of violence, too: sexual abuse, torture, executions, abductions, destruction of homes, forced displacement and other such abuses, including on children,” Annan was reported as telling the UN General Assembly by video link from Geneva. Since March 2011, violence has engulfed Syria after the government began a crackdown on peaceful protesters. 

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