29-Dec-2011 - Arab monitors resume Homs mission

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28 December 2011 Last updated at 09:46 GMT Syria unrest: Arab League monitors resume Homs visit Arab League observers have begun a second day of trying to monitor the situation in Syria, after a turbulent start to their mission in Homs. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in the restive central city on Tuesday to denounce the government. Activists said several people died when troops opened fire to disperse them. The monitors are tasked with verifying compliance with a peace plan aimed at ending the government crackdown, which has left thousands dead since March. The UN says at least 5,000 people have been killed. The Syrian government - which says it is fighting "armed terrorist gangs" - says 2,000 members of the security forces have lost their lives. Casualty figures and other information are hard to verify from Syria as most foreign media are banned from reporting. 'Where is justice?' The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says the first day of the Arab observer mission brought several clear messages. Syrian security forces, which had by multiple accounts been pounding several residential areas in Homs with artillery, eased off before the observers arrived and pulled some of their tanks off the streets. But when protesters took to the streets, tear gas and live fire were used to disperse them, despite the fact that under the peace plan, all military forces are supposed to be withdrawn and peaceful demonstrations permitted. Video footage posted on the internet showed angry residents in the flashpoint district of Baba Amr surrounding the monitors and pointing to pools of blood as gunfire rang out in the background. The protesters also urged the observers to be more outspoken. nike nfl jerseys One old man shouted: "Where is justice? Where are the Arabs?" Our correspondent says that if Syria's government loosens its iron grip, as the Arab League peace plan insists it should, whole towns and cities will fall out of its control. That is why, he adds, the opposition is convinced that the government is just going the motions of co-operating with the Arab League, stringing the observers along and making some cosmetic changes on the surface, while trying to leave the basic situation unaltered. Activists said security forces killed at least 16 people across Syria on Tuesday, including six in Homs. One group, the Local Co-ordination Committees, put the death toll at 42, including 17 in Homs and seven in nearby Hama. In addition to the deaths reported by activists, Syria's state news agency Sana said two roadside bombs targeted a bus carrying employees of a state company in the north-western province of Idlib, killing six. Some members of the Arab observer team spent Tuesday night in Homs. Others travelled back to Damascus and were expected to return on Wednesday morning. On Wednesday, the head of the mission said the visit to Homs had been "reassuring so far" and that observers had not seen "anything frightening". "Yesterday was quiet and there were no clashes. We did not see tanks but we did see some armoured vehicles," Mustafa al-Dabi, a Sudanese general, told the Reuters news agency. "But remember this was only the first day and it will need investigation. We have 20 people who will be there for a long time," he added. Gen Dabi also told the AFP news agency that by Thursday observers would be in three other centres of the uprising - the central city of Hama, the north-western province of Idlib and the southern province of Deraa. Human rights groups have criticised the appointment of Gen Dabi, saying that it is impossible to imagine someone who has held senior Sudanese military and government posts, including in the Darfur region, ever recommending strong action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur. The Arab League says Gen Dabi has military and diplomatic expertise. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch accused the Syrian authorities of hiding detainees at military sites, which the observers are not permitted to visit. A Syrian security officer in Homs told the New York-based group that after the government signed the Arab League protocol authorising the observer mission, between 400 and 500 prisoners were moved out of his facility to other places of detention, including at a nearby missile factory. 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