The Tunisian capital, Tunis, is hosting an international conference on Syria, minus Russia and China — two key members of the United Nations Security Council — amid suspicions that the meeting, backed by the West, will seek fresh avenues to remove Bashar al-Assad from the Syrian presidency.
The meeting of the Friends of Syria is taking place outside the fold of the United Nations, where Russia and China have blocked moves to unseat Mr. Assad.
Analysts say the meeting in Tunis resembled a similar effort earlier to form the Libya Contact Group, which played a considerable part in forcing the exit of Muammar Qadhafi, who was eventually executed.
At the conference, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC), urged participants to allow the group to import weapons and benefit from military support from member countries in order to achieve its political goals. “If the regime fails to accept the terms of the political initiative outlined by the Arab League and end violence against citizens, the Friends of Syria should not constrain individual countries from aiding the Syrian opposition by means of military advisers, training and provision of arms to defend themselves,” it said in a statement.
The conference is expected to designate the SNC as the “legitimate” representative of the opposition, just short of accepting it as a government-in-waiting. Later, the conference, is likely to ask Syria, in the form of a declaration, to announce a ceasefire and permit humanitarian assistance in the areas that are badly engulfed in violence.
In a telephone conversation with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, was explicit in defining Western motives in Syria. Iran's Fars News Agency (FNA) quoted him as saying that “certain trans-regional powers seek Syria's disintegration which is a threat to Middle East security”.
Mr. Ahmadinejad, on his part, focused on joint activism with Russia on Syria. “Given their common views and positions, Iran and Russia must make more effort to help establish peace in the region and prevent foreign intervention.” The Iranian President, joining Russia and China whose leaders hold similar views, said that the Syrian crisis could end if foreign intervention was stopped, and reforms proposed by the Assad government were adequately enforced.
Russia and Iran appear to be covering considerable common ground on Syria. Both countries have recently sent their warships to the Syrian port of Tartus, to demonstrate their tangible support for Mr. Assad.
No comments:
Post a Comment