Annan Urged to Avoid Arab League Pitfalls in Syria as he Plans to Go to Moscow, Beijing

U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan will travel this weekend to Moscow and Beijing to discuss the crisis in Syria, his spokesman said Friday, adding that a team sent to Damascus has returned.

The team is back after "three days of intensive talks with Syrian authorities on urgent steps to implement" Annan's proposals on halting the violence.

"Mr. Annan and his team are currently studying the Syrian responses carefully, and negotiations with Damascus continue," added the spokesman.

Amnesty International urged Annan on Friday to avoid the same pitfalls as the Arab League with its planned monitoring mission to oversee a halt to year-long bloodshed in Syria.

"Any U.N. mission to supervise an end to armed violence in Syria must include as part of its work the monitoring and reporting of human rights violations and abuses, including crimes against humanity," Amnesty International said.

It urged U.N.-Arab League envoy Annan and the two organizations "to ensure that any U.N. mission deployed to the country includes human rights monitors who would be able to pass vital information to investigators."

"It is crucial that human rights monitors are included as part of this effort, to report and document crimes on the ground," said Jose Luis Diaz, Amnesty's representative at the United Nations in New York.