Annan: No plan to resume the Syrian and Lebanese tracks

The UN secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday denied the existence of any plan for the UN to resume negotiations between Israel, on the one hand, and each of Syria and Lebanon on the other.

Annan said in Ottawa where he is in a two-day visit that consultations were made concerning Syria but no written details were formulated. In a joint press conference with the Canadian prime minister Paul Martin, Annan said "there is no plan of that sort at the meantime." He said "Talks were held and documents were exchanged in the few past weeks on what can be done on the Syrian track when time is proper. I do think that one of these documents which reached the press because we have not prepared any official plans." He explained " these documents are internal and not ready for publications."

The British daily " the Financial Times " said by the end of February that the UN handed over Syria and Israel a series of detailed proposals with the objective of resuming peace negotiations frozen between the two sides since January 2000.