BELGIUM: Exiled former Syrian Vice President, Abdelhalim Khaddam, calls for end to regime of Bashar al-Assad

Record ID: 279367

  • Title: BELGIUM: Exiled former Syrian Vice President, Abdelhalim Khaddam, calls for end to regime of Bashar al-Assad
  • Date: 8th April 2011
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (APRIL 07, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF MERCURE HOTEL IN BRUSSELS SIGN READING "BRUSSELS CENTRE LOUISE" (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) EXILED FORMER SYRIAN VICE-PRESIDENT ABDELHALIM KHADDAM SEATED AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EXILED FORMER SYRIAN VICE-PRESIDENT ABDEL-HALIM KHADDAM, SAYING: "That's right, I was an official person in
  • Embargoed: 23rd April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium, Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2RYEN81W6B9VRCGA8GQA9RIU9
  • Story Text: Exiled Former Syrian Vice-President Abdelhalim Khaddam said on Thursday (April 7) President Bashar al-Assad's rule should come to an end.
    "I was an official person in the regime. And therefore I know the structure of the regime. If we have a look at the systems in other countries, especially in the Arab world, these regimes which came after military coups and claimed to bring revolution and change, what did they do? Their people suffer from deprivation and injustice. And these regimes cannot be reformed. They must leave. A new generation, with new thoughts, must come. The time for these regimes has finished. They are not able to continue," Khaddam told journalists in Brussels.
    He called for the U.N. to investigate crimes committed in the country.
    "All the Syrian opposition parties and the youth movement in Syria are calling for peaceful change. And therefore, they demonstrated peacefully. But the regime confronted them with bullets. And therefore the Syrians have borne these crimes, but they are keen to continue the demonstrations peacefully in order to achieve stability. It is not the Syrian intention to call for military intervention in Syrian affairs. But we asked the United Nations Secritary General to send an investigation committee into the crimes of the regime and refer it to the international court. The Syrian people will change the regime."
    Khaddam, who broke with Assad in 2005 after serving under his late father Hafez al-Assad, told a news conference that the current regime could not be reformed and should fall.
    "I am convinced there is no hope for change. I am also convinced this arbitrary regime cannot reform itself or its mistakes. Democratic regimes can reform themselves and their mistakes. That is why I decided to leave my post in the authority."
    Khaddam, who lives in France, has often chosen to meet in Belgium because he is bound by French law to refrain from making statements against foreign governments as a condition of political asylum.
    The former Vice-President has previously publicly stated that Assad had threatened former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri before he was assassinated.
    Syrian lawmakers have called for Khaddam to be tried for treason and corruption after he publicly broke with Assad.
    Assad, who became president after his father Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, had predicted the popular revolts seen in Tunisia and Egypt would not spread to Syria, saying the ruling hierarchy was "very closely linked to the beliefs of the people".
    But for the past two weeks thousands of Syrians have turned out demanding greater freedoms in the tightly controlled Arab state, posing the gravest challenge to almost 50 years of monolithic Baath Party rule.
    More than 70 people have been killed in the protests, which have been inspired by popular uprisings across the Arab world.
    The unrest in Syria could have wider repercussions since Syria has an anti-Israel alliance with Iran and supports militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
    Assad has ordered a panel to draft anti-terrorism legislation to replace emergency law, but critics say the replacement will probably grant the state many of the same powers.
    Abdelhalim Khaddam, whom the opposition is critical of because of the many years he served under the Baath party, said Assad's steps towards reform didn't "go to the heart of the problem". Khaddam called for the creation of a new constitution, based on a parliamentary democracy.
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