DAMASCUS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's latest initiative for ending the 21-month conflict in the country has aroused mixed reactions both at home and abroad.
In his first televised speech since June 4, 2012, Assad on Sunday offered a new peace plan to end the crisis in Syria. He suggested a national reconciliation conference, elections and a new constitution, but he demanded that other countries first stop helping opposition fighters.
The speech was rejected by the opposition, which said Assad has sidestepped a point the opposition deemed crucial, which was to relinquish power.
Head of exiled opposition group Syrian National Council, George Sabra, said in an interview with Turkish media his group rejects any initiative that does not start with the departure of Assad, adding that the opposition "will carry on with the path of resistance to liberate the Syrian land from the Assad soldiers."
As for the home-based opposition, the Building Syria State said Monday in a statement that the president's prospect of what is happening in the country "doesn't reflect the entire truth about the current conflict," adding that "the solution's steps that he had provided are not enough to be a roadmap or a political process that could end the country's crisis."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Monday voiced his disappointment with the latest speech by President al-Assad.
"The speech rejected the most important element of the Geneva Communique of 30 June 2012, namely a political transition and the establishment of a transitional governing body with full executive powers that would include representatives of all Syrians," according to a statement issued by Ban's spokesman.
The Geneva Communique, agreed by the Action Group on Syria comprising of world powers, envisaged a Syrian-led transition, including the formation of a transitional government in Syria combining representatives of the government and the opposition.
In the statement, Ban also reaffirmed his long-held view that "there is no military solution to the conflict in Syria."
The United States on Sunday dismissed Assad's latest initiative as "another attempt by the regime to cling to power," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a written statement.
"His initiative is detached from reality, undermines the efforts of Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, and would only allow the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people," she added.
China will welcome any solution that is generally accepted by all parties in Syria to end the violence there, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Monday, adding that a political solution is the only practical method to end the fighting.
Violence in Syria has been gaining momentum and shown no sign of abating, as an increasing number of foreign jihadists are allegedly fighting alongside the rebels across the country against the government troops.
According to the United Nations, more than 60,000 people have died in Syria's conflict.
TEHRAN, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Monday that the Islamic republic supports Syrian president's Sunday remarks and his proposed peace plan.
During his speech to the nation on Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad presented what he described as a new peace plan to end the crisis in Syria, a move that has been dismissed by his opponents as a ploy to cling on to power. Full story
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- TheUnited Stateson Sunday dismissed the latest initiative bySyrian President Bashar al- Assad for ending the protracted conflict in his country, reiterating the call for his ouster.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also pledged continued support for the framework of the Geneva Action Group on a political solution to the ongoing crisis in Syria.Full story
DAMASCUS, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday put forward his own roadmap for a political solution to the country's 22-month old crisis, which is based on halting the international support to the armed groups currently fighting on ground.
In his first televised speech since June 4, 2012, Assad appeared among hundreds of his loyalists at the Opera House in the capital Damascus. Dressed in a black suit, the embattled leader stood on a brown podium, with a huge poster of the Syrian flag as the background, where there were also small photos of the army's martyrs. Full story
|
