- Title: SWEDEN: Opposition leaders of Syrian National Council meet in Sweden
- Date: 31st August 2012
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (AUGUST 31, 2012) (REUTERS) POLICE WALKING OUTSIDE MEETING VENUE VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF MEETING VENUE VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF THE SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL SEATED AROUND TABLES CHAIRMAN OF THE SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL ABDULBASET SIEDA BEING INTERVIEWED BADGE ON SIEDA'S JACKET (SOUNDBITE) (Swedish) CHAIRMAN OF THE SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL ABDULBASET SIEDA SAYIN
- Embargoed: 15th September 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Sweden
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVACE9O2VF1133WBHQCAY92W6D0T
- Story Text: As the leadership of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) met in Stockholm for a second day on Friday (August 31), its chairman Abdulbaset Sieda said Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad had lost his sense of reality and gave his rule only a few more months.
He dismissed Assad's belief that his fight to put down the uprising was succeeding.
Assad, in his first television interview since rebels took their fight into the heart of Damascus and the country's biggest city, Aleppo, said on Wednesday (August 29) his fight to put down the uprising was going well but needed more time.
"Assad said the same thing at the beginning of the revolution. I think he's a person who isn't experiencing reality and he doesn't understand that what is happening in Syria is a revolution. The Syrian people want to get rid of him and the regime and will continue regardless of how many victoms have to scarify or how high the price is. I think Assad is experiencing the last period - if it's weeks or days, that depends on the developments on the ground," explained SNC chairman Abdulbaset Sieda during a meeting in a Stockholm suburb.
During a meeting in Iran earlier this week, Egyptian leader Mohamed Mursi urged Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) members to back Syrians trying to topple Assad's regime.
Mursi, a moderate Egyptian Islamist, said Assad had lost legitimacy in his fight to crush a 17-month-old revolt in which about 20,000 people have been killed.
Commenting on the subject, Sieda stressed that all the Arab countries support the Syrian people against the Assad's regime and not only Mursi.
"I don't think it's only Mohamed Mursi, all the Arab countries support the Syrian people because the situation in Syria can't stay the way it is now. If the situation gets more catastrophic, the amount of fanatics will increase and Syria as a state can possibly fall. In that case, the negative results will not only affect Syria, but will also spill over to Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Jordan," he said.
Western and Arab countries that have called for Assad's removal are keen to improve cooperation among those trying to dislodge him, including the Istanbul-based SNC.
Recently, a prominent former member of the SNC criticised the organisation saying it had failed to overcome internal divisions and was not up to the challenge of overthrowing Assad.
The mainly-exiled political groups within the SNC have sometimes been at odds with each other, and have not always agreed with rebel fighters operating within Syria, such as the Free Syrian Army, led by defected military officers.
However, Sieda revealed during the NSC meeting that the organisation is being reorganised, and will have a more effective and democratic approach.
"We are now restructuring the SNC to improve the situation. We will achieve that soon and then decide when to hold the general assembly. Then we will, for example, discuss it with the general secretariat and the executive committee. We will elect one via elections. We have, on the other hand, agreed on the rules that will open doors for other groups who want to become part of SNC. This will help the democracy and SNC will become more representative for the Syrian society and for the Syrian political movements," he said.
Sieda said the SNC favors a secular, democratic Syria which respects minority rights and where power is given to local authorities, away from the centre in Damascus.
"Syria will be a secular, civil, and a democratic state and it will be a kind of a bridge between different groups in the Middle East. It will also become a factor for stability in the region instead of being a destabilising factor in the whole region, " he said.
In the meantime, Syrian civilians' living conditions are worsening dramatically, as it is becoming harder to obtain food and escape fighting which caused a record death toll of 1,600 in the past week, aid agencies said on Friday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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