Annan pushes peace in Syria

Mr Annan faces a tough sale in Syria

By Frank Gardner in Damascus

UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan has met Syria's Foreign Minister, Farouk al-Shara, in Damascus.

The UN chief's visit to Syria came on the same day as hardline Palestinian groups there denounced the ceasefire brokered between Israel and the Palestinians.

Mr Annan spent more than an hour behind closed doors, deep in discussion with the Syrian foreign minister.

If there were differences of opinion about the path to Middle East peace, they did not come out in the press conference.

Kofi Annan, left, with Amr Moussa in Cairo

Mr Annan said simply that they had discussed the Israeli-Palestinian situation, UN sanctions on Iraq, and Lebanon.

He is due to meet Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday.

But, of all the countries on Mr Annan's Middle East tour, Syria is the one most opposed to any sort of compromise with Israel.

Uprising encouraged

The state-run newspaper, Al-Thawra, has demanded that the Palestinian uprising continue unabated until Israel vacates "all occupied Arab land" and a Palestinian state is established.

Hardline Palestinian resistance groups based here went further, blasting the newly agreed truce with Israel as a sell-out.

A statement issued by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said the truce would create an inter-Palestinian crisis dividing the Palestinians.

Statements like these show that Syria, while welcoming the UN chief to the region, is a country yet to be reconciled with the current round of peace-making in the Middle East.

Earlier in the day, Mr Annan was in Cairo, where he met the head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.