Monday, May 14, 2012

(Updates with statement, new details.)

-- EU sanctions hit three more people, two entities

-- Belgian foreign minister says Annan mission taking a long time

-- EU's Ashton says will support Annan mission as long as needed

-- EU statement says Annan plan not an "open-ended" offer to Syria regime

-- Comments come after what seems to be fiercest fighting since ceasefire nominally took effect

(Adds quotes, details and latest on Syria fighting.) 


 
   By Laurence Norman 
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The European Union imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Syria Monday because of the continued violence, while some officials expressed frustration with the length of time it was taking the United Nations' mission leader Kofi Annan to establish a ceasefire.

The sanctions were agreed at Monday's meeting of EU foreign ministers and announced by the European Council, which groups together the EU's member states. However, in a statement after the meeting foreign ministers said the Annan ceasefire plan wasn't an "open-ended" offer to Syria's leaders to engage with the international community.

A European diplomat said the new sanctions included a travel ban and asset freeze on three people and two entities linked to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The measures will be detailed on Tuesday.

Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan was this year picked to lead a joint ceasefire mission with the Arab League to Syria and has been negotiating with the Syrian regime for several months.

Earlier, the EU's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said "the continuing violence is appalling," and that the EU will continue to support Annan "for as long as he wishes to continue" it. However, others were more concerned about the progress of the Annan mission.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders expressed frustration with the amount of time the Annan mission to Syria was taking and said it was time to reopen the debate about a humanitarian corridor into Syria with some military presence.

"We support the mission of Kofi Annan but it has begun to be very long now without any ceasefire. And so I'm sure that we need to do more and maybe we'll go back to the humanitarian corridor," he told reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

"We have spoken about a humanitarian corridor so the capacity to send humanitarian help to the country with maybe some military presence."

The comments come after what seemed to be the fiercest fighting yet between rebel fighters and government forces since the ceasefire nominally took effect a month ago. A U.K.-based opposition group said 23 Syrian soldiers were killed in al-Rastan, a restive town just north of the city of Homs.

Citing sources on the ground, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said three armored personnel carriers were destroyed in the fighting, which comes a day after several opposition groups and activists reported a resumption of heavy artillery attacks by the government on Rastan. Fighters and residents in the town weren't reachable Monday and accounts can't be independently verified due to broad reporting restrictions in Syria.

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said it is clear the ceasefire isn't being fully implemented and there continues to be "killing, torture, abuse in Syria."

Hague said that, while the Annan plan, which includes a push for political reform as well as measures to end the violence, is the best one available, the international community can't wait forever for it to succeed. "There isn't an indefinite period of time for the Annan plan to work," he said.

That was echoed in the final statement.

"The EU underlines that the six-point plan is not an open-ended offer," the ministers said. The ministers urged the opposition groups to "put aside their differences and...agree on a set of shared principles."

But they said Syria's government held "the main responsibility for the ceasefire and the successful implementation of the" Annan plan.

EU member states were strong supporters of the Annan mission and Ashton and other EU officials scaled back their calls for Syria's Assad to step down in a bid to ease the plan's chances of success. However, even while some signs of frustration are emerging over the situation, the EU remains divided over what alternatives there are to diplomacy.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said there can be no other solution than a diplomatic one, even while he said the foreign ministers are likely to tighten sanctions a little more against Syria at Monday's meeting.

"There is no other solution" than pursuing the Annan plan. "A military solution or any other solution is not an answer. It is necessary that politically we keep the pressure on Syria," he said.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt also said the alternative to patient diplomacy would be horrible, potentially leading Syria into a full-scale sectarian civil war.

Asselborn also said the ministers would discuss what they could do to speed the arrival of up to 300 U.N. ceasefire observers in Syria.

He said the availability of the full mission that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was seeking wouldn't "stop the violence."

But he said it would be "very important" symbolically. We must "put in place this mission very, very quickly," Asselborn said.

-By Laurence Norman, Dow Jones Newswires; +32 (0)2 741 1481; laurence.norman@dowjones.com

(Nour Malas in Dubai contributed to the story.)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

14-05-12 1227GMT