Head Of UN Observer Mission Urges End To Syria Violence

Joint Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan (left) poses with Major-General Robert Mood of Norway during a meeting at the United Nations in Geneva in early April.

The head of the UN observer mission in Syria has called on President Bashar al-Assad's forces and the country's opposition to stop fighting and allow a fragile cease-fire to take hold.

Norwegian Major General Robert Mood spoke upon arrival in Damascus, where he was to take charge of an advance team of 16 UN observers.

The team will monitor the implementantion of the cease-fire that is part of a six-point peace plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan.

Mission spokesman Neeraj Singh said 100 monitors should be in the country by mid-May.

It is unclear when or if the full contingent of 300 monitors authorized by the UN will deploy to Syria.

The Syrian state news agency said observers visited a neighborhood of the flashpoint city of Homs on April 29.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters