Syrian opposition forms united front to oust Assad
BRUSSELS, March 17: Exiled Syrian opposition leaders announced the creation of a united front on Friday to form a transitional government to bring about ‘regime change’ from President Bashar al Assad to democracy.
“Syria is in need of salvation from the autocratic regime which has weakened the country” and put it in dangers ‘never seen before’, opposition leaders said in a joint declaration after a two-day meeting in Brussels.
Opposition groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, liberals, communists and Kurds, launched a ‘National Salvation Front’ and issued a ‘National Programe for Change’ during a six-month transition to democracy in a post-Assad era.
Fourteen exiled politicians — all men — appeared on the platform at a joint news conference. Former vice-president Abdel-Halim Khaddam, a defector from the ruling Baath Party who broke with President Assad last year after serving the government for decades, and Muslim Brotherhood leader Ali Bayanouni held centre-stage.
“All political, social, and economic partners in Syria will form an interim government that will be ready to take over the administration of the country at the appropriate moment,” the statement said.
An interim government would cancel the constitution, organise elections, lift the state of emergency, cancel a law condemning members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death and free all political prisoners.
Mr Assad is under severe international pressure over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al Hariri last year, which prompted mass protests and a United Nations resolution forcing the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
However, it is not clear how much popular support the combined opposition can command in Syria.
“Bringing down the walls of fear is one of our greatest challenges,” Najib Ghadbian, from the Syrian National Council, an umbrella organisation for opposition groups, said.
Mr Khaddam acknowledged the opposition front was not yet complete and said the organisers would now work on taking all political, religious and ethnic groups on board before their next meeting within 45 days.
“There still had to be full negotiations with all factions inside and outside Syria,” Mr Khaddam said. That was the reason why they had not yet decided on leaders or a permanent structure.
UPRISING FORECAST: In an interview, Mr Khaddam forecast an uprising in Damascus within months, saying Mr Assad was making many mistakes and ‘digging himself into a hole’.
Some diplomats say Washington and Paris may be reluctant to risk instability in Damascus at a time of worsening civil strife in Iraq and after the victory of the Hamas movement in the Palestinian territories.
The opposition leaders stressed that preparing an alternative was essential to prevent chaos and civil war.
Mr Khaddam said that the opposition had to be ‘self-sufficient’ and would not take money from the United States or Arab states.
Arkansas-based Ghadbian said he favoured accepting U.S. funding for projects such as training, but acknowledged that groups based inside Syria were totally opposed.
Mr Khaddam and Mr Bayanouni make strange bedfellows. Mr Khaddam was foreign minister in 1982 when Syrian security forces crushed an Islamist uprising in the town of Hama, killing at least 10,000 people and possibly twice that number.
The former vice-president now says he deeply regrets those events.
Mr Bayanouni said he had no problem with the Baath party, which has ruled Syria as a one-party state since the 1960s, only with ‘the dictatorship that is controlling the Baath party’.
“My hand is outstretched to any Baathist who is still working for the regime to come and work with us. It is an open invitation,” the Muslim Brotherhood leader said. —Reuters
