Syria welcomes UN observers

Syria welcomes the dispatch of international observers to monitor a shaky truce because it "has nothing to hide," state-run SANA news agency reported on Sunday. SANA's report offered the first reaction to Saturday's UN Security Council vote to dispatch observers to Syria to monitor a truce drawn up by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan and agreed by Damascus. "Syria endorsed the UN observer mission because it has nothing to hide and hopes that these observers will convey the real picture of what is happening on the ground," SANA said. "From the start of the conflict Syria was open to all initiatives and efforts aimed at helping it emerge from the current crisis that targets its security and its stability," the agency said. The agency stressed, however, that any effort aimed at ending more than a year of deadly violence must be "based on respect for Syrian sovereignty." The government's mouthpiece also reiterated the regime's repeated accusations that "armed terrorist groups funded and armed by foreign parties"are responsible for the violence in Syria. The agency said Syria agreed to the UN Security Council resolution because "Syria's main request was the monitoring of the terrorists' crimes" and because it was part Annan's six-point plan which Damascus accepted. The SANA report came as the first half-dozen observers from an advance team for the mission were due in the Syrian capital on Sunday, although their flight plans were unclear. The first group boarded a plane from New York straight after the Security Council resolution was passed. The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed since the uprising began. Monitors say the death toll has topped 10,000.