U.N. envoy to seek Syria pullout plan

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The United Nations is sending its Middle East envoy to Damascus this week to seek a timetable for Syria's withdrawal of its 14,000 troops from Lebanon amid mixed signals from Syrian officials.

U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen will fly to the region today, stopping for talks in Egypt, Lebanon and possibly Jordan before his scheduled arrival Saturday in the Syrian capital, diplomats said yesterday.

President Bush has demanded that Syria comply with a U.N. resolution and withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon.

In addition, Mr. Bush has demanded that the withdrawal be completed before Lebanon holds parliamentary elections in May.

Syria's ambassador to the United States said this week that his government's forces would be gone by May, but senior officials in Syria have promised only to withdraw them to the border and then negotiate a timetable for their return to Syria.

A Middle East diplomat in Washington said leaders in the region are "not happy" about the contradictory messages.

"The Syrian ambassador in Washington said one thing, and on the same day, President [Bashar] Assad's deputy in Damascus said another thing," said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"They will definitely withdraw, that is a done deal, but we are finding mixed signals about the timing, and leaders in the region are unhappy with that."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday that Mr. Roed-Larsen, who is acting with the backing of the U.N. Security Council, would seek to pin down precise dates for the pullout.

"I hope the envoy will be able to come back with a timetable," he told journalists on the sidelines of a counterterrorism summit yesterday in Madrid.