FRANCE: Leaders and ministers from around the world arrive in Paris for 'Friends of Syria' conference

Record ID: 281021

  • Title: FRANCE: Leaders and ministers from around the world arrive in Paris for 'Friends of Syria' conference
  • Date: 6th July 2012
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JULY 6, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF CONFERENCE VENUE EU AND FRENCH FLAGS OUTSIDE VENUE
  • Embargoed: 21st July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6IU79IMX7PYTRZ8G8X4JZ39BL
  • Story Text: Reports of the defection of a general who is a personal friend of Bashar al-Assad provided a backdrop for a meeting of the Syrian leader's enemies who gathered in Paris on Friday (July 6) for a meeting of Western and Arab states that want to drive him from power.
    A source in the exiled opposition said Manaf Tlas, a brigade commander in Assad's Republican Guard, was on his way to Paris where the "Friends of Syria" group of states opposed to Assad was meeting. He has family there.
    If he throws his support behind the opposition, Tlas - who attended military college with the 46-year-old Assad - would be the closest member of the Syrian leader's inner circle to switch sides during a 16-month uprising that is becoming a civil war with strong sectarian overtones.
    The Paris meeting will, among other things, focus on firming up sanctions and closing loopholes such as continued Greek purchases of Syrian phosphates, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in an interview published in the newspaper Aujourd'hui en France.
    Western governments, which are keen to bring down Assad but have shown no appetite for taking on a direct role like the NATO bombing that helped oust Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year, will relish the sign of a split among Assad's confidants.
    Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey, Syria's NATO-member neighbour which has become Assad's most outspoken foe, said defections proved that the Syrian government is crumbling.
    A peace plan proposed by international envoy Kofi Annan, a former U.N. secretary-general, has proved a dead letter, with his proposed ceasefire ignored and a small, unarmed U.N. monitoring team forced to suspend its work.
    French President Francois Hollande will open the third meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group, taking on the kind of high-profile role eight weeks into his term that his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy did in the Libyan crisis.
    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Britain's William Hague will be among the 50 foreign ministers and delegates. But Assad's U.N. veto-wielding allies Russia and China are boycotting a meeting they say is one-sided, and his main regional ally Iran has not been invited.
    As Clinton arrived in Paris, senior U.S. officials said they hoped the talks would endorse recent transition planning by the Syrian opposition and lead to U.N. Security Council discussions as early as next week on economic sanctions against Assad's government.
    It was not clear whether Russia and China, which have in the past vetoed action on Syria, would agree to put more pressure on Assad in a new Security Council resolution.
    Friday's meeting will focus on ways to support Syrian rebels and provide aid. Saudi Arabia and Qatar want to fund and arm the rebels, but Western powers have misgivings about sending more weapons into what could become a wider sectarian conflict.
    Syrian armour pushed into the rebel-held northern town of Khan Sheikhoun on Thursday, activists said, adding 11 victims to a death toll dissidents and Western leaders put at over 15,000.
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