Syrian Opposition leaders on Wednesday met US Secretary of State
John Kerry and G8 foreign ministers in London to seek a “political”
breakthrough of the country’s civil unrest on the sidelines of an
official G8 ministerial meet with North Korean nuclear crisis and Iran
high on the agenda.
At the discussion with the G8 ministers, Syrian opposition prime
Minister Ghassan Hitto and Syrian National Coalition vice-presidents
George Sabra and Soheir Atassi and other civilian leaders pushed for
lifting an arms embargo on Syria to topple the President Bashar al-Assad
regime.
“I will be joining and convening some of those meetings to discuss
the urgent humanitarian needs and the urgent need for a political and
diplomatic breakthrough,” British foreign secretary William Hague told
reporters in reference to the meeting.
“This (Syria) is turning into the greatest humanitarian catastrophe
of the 21st century so far and we cannot watch this happen,” he added.
Syria slipped into its third year of the devastating civil war this
year as the rebels have been waging an uprising to oust Assad in which
an estimated 70,000 people said to have been killed and millions forced
to flee their honmes.
Syria’s Opposition umbrella group the National Coalition is
recognised by the US and UK and many other Western and Arab countries as
the sole representative of the Syrian people.
The Syrian Opposition was formally granted an Arab League seat last month.
The ongoing civil unrest in the country is at the top of the agenda
of the two-day foreign minister’s meeting from today being hosted by
the UK in the run-up to the official summit of the Group of Eight
nations-Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the
US in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland in June.
In keeping with the London meet’s central theme of conflict
prevention and resolution, Kerry is also set to meet his Russian
counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a bid to persuade Moscow, a key ally of
Damascus, to help break the international stalemate on the conflict.
The US and EU are currently providing non-lethal aid, such as
communications equipment, and are beginning to distribute food and
medical supplies to the Free Syrian Army.
There has been no consensus over the issue of arming the Opposition
as a result of fears that the weapons could get into the hands of
terrorists.
A European Union arms embargo on Syria is set to expire at the end
of May and its renewal will require a wide consensus on the issue.
Hague confirmed at a pre-meet briefing in the UK’s Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) here yesterday that Britain and France would
continue to push for the lifting of the arms embargo.
Iran, Syria’s main ally, will also loom large at the G8 talks after
nuclear negotiations between Tehran and world powers ended in deadlock
at the weekend.
The tensions over North Korea would also be a key topic, with
Pyongyang’s April 10 deadline over the safety of foreign embassies now
running out.
Hague stressed that his “personal priority” for the meeting was a
new agreement and international protocol to prevent sexual violence in
conflicts.
“Many countries are suffering these horrific attacks, including Sri
Lanka and India. At a domestic level, all governments are expected to
do their best to combat such crimes. Our aim is to draw up an
international protocol and build an international coalition on the issue
of sexual violence as a weapon of war,” he said.
Other topics of discussions at the ministerial talks are expected
to include encouraging international financial institutions to re-engage
with Somalia and Iran and the Middle East peace process.
Burma and the Deauville Partnership with Arab Countries in Transition have also been named as key issues to be addressed.
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