‘Bold steps’ needed for Syria peace

Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, has called on the country’s government to take bold steps to prove its commitment to restoring peace during a visit to Damascus.Annan arrived in the Syrian capital on Monday for talks with high-level officials as world leaders said his peace plan was the only way to solve the country’s conflict.The former UN chief called on “every individual with a gun” in Syria to lay down arms, saying he was horrified by a weekend massacre in Houla that killed about 110 people, including 49 children.“I urge the [Syrian] government to take bold steps to signal that it is serious in its intention to resolve this crisis peacefully, and for everyone involved to help create the right context for a credible political process,” Annan said.“I am personally shocked and horrified by the tragic incident in Houla two days ago, which took so many innocent lives, children, women and men.”He was to meet Walid al-Muallem, Syria’s foreign minister, on Monday before holding talks with President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday, a Syrian official source said.Earlier in the day, William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, called at a joint press conference in Moscow for greater efforts to implement the plan, which calls on both government forces and rebels to cease hostilities and for a Syrian-led political process.Lavrov said that “who is in power” in Syria is less important than that the bloodshed is brought to an end.‘We don’t support the Syrian government, we support Kofi Annan’s plan,” he said.For his part, Hague warned of the possibility of a civil war.“The alternatives are the Annan plan or ever-increasing chaos,” he said, calling on all parties to cease violence.