Monday, May 14, 2012


 
   By Laurence Norman

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--European Union foreign ministers imposed new sanctions on Syria on Monday, citing continued violence there, while some officials expressed frustration with the time it was taking United Nations mission leader Kofi Annan to establish a cease-fire.

After the European Council, which groups EU member states, announced the sanctions, the foreign ministers said the cease-fire plan wasn't an "open-ended" offer, indicating their patience with Syria's leaders was starting to wear thin.

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.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)

Mr. Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general, this year was named to lead a joint cease-fire mission with the Arab League 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 Mr. Annan "for as long as he wishes to continue" the effort. However, others were more concerned about the mission's progress.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders 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 cease-fire. And so I'm sure that we need to do more and maybe we'll go back to the humanitarian corridor," he said before the ministers' meeting.

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

Monday's comments come after what seemed to be the fiercest fighting yet between rebel fighters and government forces since the cease-fire 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 witnesses, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said three armored personnel carriers were destroyed in the fighting, which comes a day after opposition groups and activists reported a resumption of heavy artillery attacks by the government on al-Rastan.

Fighters and residents in the town weren't reachable Monday and accounts can't be independently verified because of broad reporting restrictions in Syria.

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

He said that while the Annan plan, which includes a push for political overhauls 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 ministers' final statement.

"The EU underlines that the six-point plan is not an open-ended offer," they 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 cease-fire and the successful implementation of the" Annan plan.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said there can be no other solution than a diplomatic one.

"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.

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

Mr. Asselborn 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," he said.

-By Laurence Norman, Dow Jones Newswires; laurence.norman@wsj.com

--Nour Malas in Dubai contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

14-05-12 1755GMT