Assad not to be trusted - AD

Alternattiva Demokratika's Arnold Cassola said that Syria's president  Bashar al-Assad cannot be trusted with withdrawing his troops and respecting the agreed ceasefire.

Cassola, AD's spokesperson on EU and International Affairs said "Bashar Assad is again showing that he is not to be trusted.  After having supposedly accepted the points of the Kofi Annan peace plan, the Syrian army has increased its repression before today's deadline. "

He added that hundreds of people are being killed every day in violent repression. "Today Shrian troops have even fired onto a refugee camp based in Turkey on the frontier with Syria.  The EU and the international community should side with the people of Syria and with the democratic forces of the country against the brutal dictator, and the governments of Russia and China should use their strong influence to halt the massacre".

On Sunday, Assad's government called for written guarantees from rebel fighters to end attacks and a promise from foreign states not to fund them. It said it did not want the rebels to exploit any troop withdrawal to reorganise and rearm themselves.

The Free Syrian Army, the main armed rebel group, said although it backed the truce, it refused to meet the government's new demands.

The UN says more than 9,000 people have been killed in the uprising against Assad's rule which began more than a year ago.

The Syrian government says 2,000 security personnel have been killed in the uprising and blames the violence on "armed gangs" and "terrorists."