(Washington Post) Robin Wright - In a meeting set for Saturday, top UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen plans to inform Syrian President Bashar Assad that the international community is united in insisting that Damascus comply with UN Resolution 1559 - and is prepared to impose wide punitive sanctions if it does not act quickly, officials said. "If he doesn't deliver, there will be total political and economic isolation of his country. There is a steel-hard consensus in the international community," a senior UN official said. Roed-Larsen will tell Assad that Syria must honor the independent sovereignty of Lebanon and not undermine its spring elections for a new parliament. Assad must provide a complete timeline for a full pullout of troops as well as 5,000 intelligence agents. Finally, Roed-Larsen will discuss the need to disarm and dismantle foreign and domestic militias operating in Lebanon, all of which Syria supports. "Clearly the presence of Syrian forces and Syrian intelligence agents is incompatible with a fully fair election, untainted by outside interference. And that's the basis of 1559," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said Thursday.
2005-03-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive