UN peace monitors due to start Syria mission

PanARMENIAN.Net - UN peace monitors are due to start their mission in Syria on Monday, April 16 to oversee a shaky ceasefire undermined by persistent violence and the shelling of the opposition stronghold of Homs by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reported.

The ceasefire is part of a broader peace plan brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan, but it looked increasingly under threat throughout the weekend as the government vowed a crackdown on a wave of "terrorist attacks" in Syria.

An advance team of five unarmed monitors arrived in the capital Damascus on Sunday evening. Under the UN plan, two dozen more observers are due to enter Syria in coming days.

As the monitors prepared to embark on their mission, violence persisted on the ground. One activist said the city of Homs, one of the hotbeds of opposition to Assad, was bombarded on Sunday by government forces at a rate of "one shell per minute".

Other activist sources said that six people had been killed on Sunday, and four bodies had been found.

Casting further doubt on whether the ceasefire would hold, Syria said it would stop what it called "terrorist groups" from committing criminal acts, state television reported.

Annan, joint special envoy of the United Nations and Arab League, brokered the six-point peace plan in March as part of international efforts to stop 13 months of violence. The plan calls for the start of political dialogue, the delivery of humanitarian assistance, the release of prisoners including those involved in peaceful protests, freedom of movement for journalists to work throughout Syria.