The U.N. has denied that Kofi Annan had set April as a deadline for Syria's pullout from Lebanon. "The secretary general never set an April deadline for a withdrawal nor did he support sanctions if the pullout didn't happen by then," spokesman Fred Eckhard said, providing a partial transcript of the Annan interview as reported by Al Arabiya network.
In the unofficial transcript, Annan said he would next report to the Security Council by April on Syria's compliance with Resolution 1559 to demand a total withdrawal. "If it's partial withdrawal, I will have to report. If it's total withdrawal, I will have to report," Annan said, adding that it would be up to the council to impose any sanctions.
"I would urge them to do everything possible to comply so that I can report to the council that they have satisfactorily performed and therefore we wouldn't need to go for additional measures," Annan said.
