ANNAN PROPOSES TRANSITION GOVERNMENT FOR SYRIA

GENEVA, July 1, 2012 (AFP) - World powers on Saturday agreed to a plan for a transition in Syria that could include current regime members, but the West did not see any role for President Bashar al-Assad in a new unity government.

Russia and China insisted that Syrians must decide how the transition should be carried out rather than allow others to dictate their fate, as the two powers signed up to the final agreement that did not make any explic- it call for Assad to cede power.The deal came despite initial pessimism from participants about the prospects of the Geneva talks amid deep divisions between the West and China and Russia on how to end the violence that claimed at least 83 lives on Saturday.

Rights monitors said most victims were civilians and hundreds more were trapped in Douma as regime forces stormed the town in Damascus province.

While international

There are no demands to exclude from this process any one group. This aspect had been present in many of our partners' proposals. We have convinced them that this is unacceptable

envoy Kofi Annan did not name names and said it was up to the Syrians to decide who they wanted in a unity government, he added: “I would doubt that Syrians... would select people with blood on their hands to lead them.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that Washington did not see a role for Assad in the transition.

“Assad will still have to go. He will never pass the mutual consent test,” she said.