Arab League says Syria failed to fully implement Annan’s peace plan

The Arab League chief on Tuesday said a full and immediate implementation of Kofi Annan’ s peace plan did not happen in Syria, while Qatar’s prime minister said no progress has been made to end Syria’s deadly 13-month crisis.

A six-day-old truce has held in some parts of Syria since President Bashar al-Assad pledged to honor it last week, and a small observer mission went to the country this week to oversee the ceasefire.

“All parties should support Mr. Annan and his mission,” Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said in a statement at an Arab ministerial meeting in Doha.

“We emphasize two points: full and immediate implementation has not happened, and two, Mr. Annan’s mission is a political one and therefore will take some time and will require continuous pressure on the Syrian government as well as support of the permanent members of the Security Council and the continuous passing of resolutions by the council,” Elaraby said.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, meanwhile, said that no progress has been made to end the deadly crisis in Syria.

“We hope the Syrian government responds” to Annan’s six-point peace plan, Sheikh Hamad told the Arab meeting in Doha. “We don’t see any progress in implementing” it.

“Nothing has changed except for (Damascus) accepting” the plan, he said at the opening of the meeting. “Implementation is more important.”

The meeting comes as U.N. observers admitted Tuesday they face a tough task to firm up a ceasefire in Syria, as five civilians were killed in the latest violence on the sixth day of a tenuous truce.

The Arab ministerial committee, chaired by Qatar, includes Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, and Kuwait.

A spike in deadly violence forced the Arab League to end its own Syrian monitoring mission in late January, barely a month after sending observers.

On Monday, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said the chances of Annan’s plan succeeding “are no higher than three percent,” and that Syrians should not be supported through peaceful means but “with arms”.

Qatar has taken a hawkish stance in favor of the year-old rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Rights monitors say the violence has killed at least 11,100 people since March 2011.