Assad calls for order in Baba Amr

DAMASCUS, Syria, March 28 (UPI) -- Syrian President Bashar Assad said during a visit to the Baba Amr neighborhood that order must be restored for the sake of the homeland.

Assad visited the restive neighborhood in Homs province after security forces recaptured the district. During his visit, he said state authorities would never hesitate to carry their duties to protect Syrian citizens.

"The state has given those who deviated from the path of right the best of possible opportunities to backtrack and return to the homeland, and to put down their arms," he was quoted by the official Syrian Arab News Agency as saying. "They, however, rejected seizing these opportunities and further increased their terrorism."

The Syrian government said this week that it accepted the terms of a peace plan offered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

Navi Pillay, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Assad bore ultimate responsibility for abuses committed against the people of Syria, however.

"Factually there is enough evidence pointing to the fact that many of these acts are committed by the security forces (and) must have received the approval or the complicity at the highest level," she told the BBC. "Because President Assad could simply issue an order to stop the killings and the killings would stop."