Syria vows to work with Annan on peace, fight 'terror'

DAMASCUS - Agence France-Presse

U.N. peace envoy Kofi Annan speaks to the media after a meeting with Syrian National Council members in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, March 13, 2012. AP photo

Syria has vowed to cooperate with UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan while combatting "terrorism," its term for the country's anti-regime revolt, the foreign ministry said on Friday.

"The Syrian government is determined to protect its citizens by disarming the terrorists and continues to search for a peaceful solution to the crisis by cooperating with special envoy Kofi Annan," it said in a letter addressed to the United Nations, carried by state news agency SANA.
 
Annan, the former UN chief, has received a response to "concrete proposals" he submitted to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last weekend but had more "questions and is seeking answers," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said on Thursday.
 
He was to give a videoconference briefing from Geneva to the UN Security Council later on Friday on his talks with Assad, whose brutal crackdown on dissent has claimed more than 9,100 lives, according to activists.