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BEIRUT – A U.N.-brokered peace deal for Syria appeared to collapse Sunday as the government made a new demand that its opponents provide "written guarantees" to lay down their weapons before regime forces withdraw from cities, a call swiftly rejected by the country's main rebel group.
The deal, brokered by U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, was due to take effect on Tuesday, paving the way for negotiations to end the country's year-old crisis, which the U.N. estimates has killed 9,000 people.
Annan said last week that Syrian President Bashar Assad had accepted the plan and its call for government forces to pull back from urban centers. [color=cyan]But on Sunday Syria's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdessi, placed a new condition -- that the opposition agree in writing "to halt violence with all its forms and their readiness to lay down weapons."
Well good for Assad. I am glad to see he isn't going to just lay down and allow himself to be culled like Ghaddafi and Saddam. Geeze... The UN actually offered this with a straight face and expected Syria to not only agree but follow though?? Anyone else see how totally absurd this is? I mean OVER THE TOP absurd!
The Rebels have been saying this all along and no one is listening. Even though there's supposed to be an election in May, they all think it's rigged as long as Assad has ANY control in the country WHATSOEVER!