The Arab League has handed Syrian officials a plan for ending seven months of increasingly violent unrest against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

The Arab League committee put its plan, involving talks in Cairo between the Syrian authorities and their opponents, to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and Bouthaina Shaaban, a political adviser to Assad, on Sunday in Qatar.

The League had previously set a two-week deadline for the start of such talks, which expired on Sunday. The committee said it hoped for a Syrian response to its plan by Monday.

"More important than a dialogue is action... This committee has given a very strong response to the recent killings," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani, whose country presides over the committee, told reporters in Doha.

Syrian objections to holding a meeting regarding what they consider domestic affairs outside Syria was one of the points of disagreement between the two sides.

Assad told Russian television on Sunday that he would co-operate with the opposition even as he had earlier warned in another interview of an "earthquake" if the West intervenes in his country.

In an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Assad said international involvement risked transforming Syria into "another Afghanistan".

He also stressed Syria was key to keeping the peace in the region.

"Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans? Any problem in Syria will burn the whole region. If the plan is to divide Syria, that is to divide the whole region," he said.

'Not the stereotypical Arab dictator'

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Andrew Gilligan, the Telegraph journalist who met Assad, said the Syrian president seemed "reasonably relaxed, and quite personable" during their interview.

"He is not the stereotypical Arab dictator," said Gilligan. "He is not blustering, or aggressive."

Louay Safi, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, said Assad has to understand that he is "inviting an intervention".

"There's only so much the world can bear in terms of force against unarmed civilians," he told Al Jazeera. "If he continues on the same path, then he will be responsible for inviting an invention."

Assad has drawn repeated condemnation from the United Nations, Arab League and Western governments for the violent manner in which he has attempted to crush the uprising.

As Arab ministers met in Qatar, Assad told Russian television that he was willing to talk to the opposition.

"We will co-operate with all political powers, both those who had existed before the crisis, and those who arose during it," he said. "We believe interacting with these powers is extremely important."

Also on Sunday, China's Middle East envoy called on the Syrian government to speed up reforms it has promised in response to popular demands, saying the situation was dangerous and the bloodshed could not continue.

Speaking in Cairo after a visit to Syria, Wu Sike told reporters that Assad's government must take "palpable steps" to end the violence.

"There must be respect and response to the aspirations ... of the Syrian people."

He said he had met Syria's deputy president and foreign minister and members of the opposition movement while in the Syrian capital Damascus, and insisted that China was neutral in the conflict.

"I emphasized to top officials the danger of the situation in Syria and that the situation cannot continue," he said.

In the latest reports of bloodshed, opposition sources said 61 civilians and 30 soldiers had been killed in clashes over the previous three days, many of them in the city of Homs.

The UN estimates that more than 3,000 people, including nearly 200 children, have been killed in the unrest. Since the start of protests in March, Syrian authorities have blamed the violence on gunmen they say have killed 1,100 soldiers and police.

Syria has barred most international media, making it hard to verify accounts from activists and authorities.

PHOTO CAPTION

Syria s President Bashar al Assad R meets with Qatar s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al Thani L and the Arab League ministerial team unseen in Damascus October 26 2011

Al Jazeera