FRANCE: Paris opens a 'Syrian People's house' in Paris to gather opposition figures ahead of key meeting

Record ID: 281020

  • Title: FRANCE: Paris opens a 'Syrian People's house' in Paris to gather opposition figures ahead of key meeting
  • Date: 5th July 2012
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JULY 5, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIORS OF FOREIGN MINISTRY CONVENTION CENTRE IN PARIS FRENCH AND EUROPEAN FLAGS VARIOUS OF 'SYRIAN PEOPLE'S HOUSE' FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER LAURENT FABIUS ARRIVING MEMBERS OF SYRIAN OPPOSITION STANDING VARIOUS OF FABIUS SHAKING HANDS WITH SYRIAN DISSIDENT RIAD SEIF SIGN IN ARABIC: THE PEOPLE WANT TO OVERTHROW THE REGIME
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA90XW6F573L6Q1RG9VQVVNDBWJ
  • Story Text: The French government on Thursday (July 5) opened what it called a 'Syrian people's house' in Paris to act as a gathering point for the opposition and emigre community opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, one day ahead of the opening of a major conference of powers that back his removal.
    Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters that Assad must be removed, while a senior member of the Syrian National Council opposition group said the peace plan of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was mired in crisis.
    "We're counting on the fact that between international pressure and the pressure of internal Syrian resistance and everything that is being done by you - the Syrians who are outside of Syria, one will end up giving into the obvious: that Mr Bashar al-Assad is a mass murderer and that he must go to restore hope to the people of Syria," Fabius said.
    Khalil al-Hajj Saleh, a member of the SNC's general secretariat, said the time had come to consider alternatives to the Annan plan, which calls for a transitional government in Syria, where some 14,000 people have died since the start of the popular uprising in March 2011.
    "Annan's plan is in crisis, we don't see any way this plan can work in the current circumstances at all. I think we have started to consider bit by bit in the post-Annan plan era, and now we need a new Security Council resolution: new terms and new ways to resolve the situation in Syria. Yes. We want a Security Council resolution and this time it has to be mandatory," he told Reuters Television.
    Fabius said he expected 50 foreign ministers and 100 countries to participate in the Friends of Syria meeting. Russia and China, the strongest international allies that Assad still retains, will not be represented.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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