Annan Raises 'Grave Concern' to Assad over Violence

International envoy Kofi Annan expressed "grave concern" to Syria's President Bashar Assad over the deadly crackdown on protests in talks Saturday, the United Nations said.

The former U.N. secretary general "put several proposals on the table regarding stopping the violence and the killing, access for humanitarian agencies and the ICRC, release of detainees, and the start of an inclusive political dialogue," said a U.N. statement.

It gave no details of the proposals.

Annan, on his first trip to Damascus since being named joint envoy by the U.N. and Arab League, "expressed grave concern at the situation in Syria and urged the president to take concrete steps to end the current crisis."

The envoy and Syrian president will meet again Sunday, the statement added.

Annan described his first talks as "candid and comprehensive."

He went on to meet "opposition leaders and young activists, as well as prominent businessmen and businesswomen," the statement said.

Assad promised Annan that he would back any "honest" peace bid but warned dialogue would fail if "terrorist groups" remained.

State television said there was a "positive atmosphere" to the Damascus meeting between Assad and Annan.

"Syria is ready to bring success to any honest bid to find a solution," the official SANA news agency quoted Assad as telling Annan.

But "no dialogue or political process can succeed as long as there are terrorist groups that are working to sow chaos and destabilize the country by attacking civilians and soldiers," he added.

"The success of any effort firstly requires an examination of what is happening on the ground instead of presumptions spread by certain states of the region and others to distort the reality ... of the situation in Syria," said Assad.

Annan will go on from Damascus to Doha, Qatar on Sunday.