FRANCE: Dissidents who recently escaped from Syria say fellow countrymen are tired after more than one year of uprising, call on global community to end the bloodshed

Record ID: 281030

  • Title: FRANCE: Dissidents who recently escaped from Syria say fellow countrymen are tired after more than one year of uprising, call on global community to end the bloodshed
  • Date: 5th July 2012
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (JULY 5, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIORS OF FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY CONVENTION CENTRE IN PARIS VARIOUS OF FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER LAURENT FABIUS MEETING SYRIAN OPPOSITION FIGURES MAP FABIUS SURROUNDED BY REPORTERS POSTER: PEOPLE WANT TO OVERTHROW THE REGIME POSTER: STOP THE ASSASSIN POSTER PROMINENT SYRIAN DISSIDENT RIAD SEIF WALKING PAST CAMERA (SOUNDBITE
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5YHW5OX2IACS760YRBZYS9IWR
  • Story Text: A prominent dissident who recently escaped from Syria said on Thursday (July 5) the world must act now to stop the bloodshed in his country, one day ahead of a major international meeting in Paris to discuss the crisis which has claimed the lives of more than 14,000 people in the past 16 months.
    Riad Seif, a former member of parliament in Syria who was jailed twice under President Bashar al-Assad, said the Syrian people are tired and needed the world to unite to help remove Assad: "We are very tired, and I think the Syrian people deserve to have the support of the Arab and international community and it is high time for world conscience to wake up and to save these innocent people from this monster who has not spared the use of any of his ugly weapons against these unarmed people, " Seif said in an interview with Reuters Television.
    Seif was jailed the first time from 2001 to 2006 and the second time for two and a half-years from 2008 to 2011 against the backdrop of what is known as the Damascus Declaration when Syrian intellectuals and political activists began calling for reforms when Assad first came to power following the death of his father Hafez in 2000 in a period called the Damascus Spring.
    Seif said the issue of the unity of the current Syrian opposition was not the obstacle for a solution in Syria.
    "Unity of the opposition is not the problem. The opposition is united in its vision, its goals and principles. And the unity of the opposition in an organisational form is not what is required now. And in the Cairo conference which ended yesterday, it achieved its goals. We have a very clear vision and those who agree with us on this vision, they are our partners in the alliance to remove Assad," Seif said.
    During the Cairo meeting earlier this week, the opposition appeared to be in disarray after it failed to agree on the formation of a committee to follow up the meeting's agreement on what Syria after Assad would look like.
    For Assem Hamcho, a 32-year-old activist from Damascus, the world has become used to the images of bloodshed in Syria.
    "The story in Syria is not a story of a certain people seeking freedom and dignity anymore, it is a humanitarian cause now. What happened is that the world is now watching the bloodshed in Syria and they have become used to it. This is the tragedy," said Hamcho, who escaped one week ago to Deraa in Jordan.
    Hamcho said the world should not use the issue of the opposition unity as an excuse not to act.
    "They hava to find a solution but they should not assume that the solution is by unifying the opposition, that is not the solution. They should not use the issue of the opposition unity as an excuse," he said.
    He said the Syrian people were trying to remove an autrocratic system in Syria and not replace it with one.
    "We are trying to remove a hegemonial system in Syria so we can have a democratic system, to learn what democracy is."
    Syrian dissidents are gathering in Paris on Friday (July 6) for the Friends of Syria meeting where major powers calling for Assad's departure will convene. Russia and China who still support Assad will not be represented.
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