Clinton: World may not succeed in Syria
Clinton: World may not succeed in Syria
updated 4:43 PM EDT, Sun July 1, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Hillary Clinton praises a new international deal even as she admits it might fail
- She says there is "no way" President Bashar al-Assad could be part
- 2,386 people were killed across Syria in June, opposition activists say
- Opposition members slam the idea that regime members could be part of the transition
"There is no guarantee that we are going to be successful. I just hate to say that," Clinton told CNN.
But she expressed optimism that a new agreement hammered out Saturday would help ease President Bashar al-Assad out of power.
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The first plan backed by
Russia and China as well as the West, it calls for a transitional
government as a step towards ending the 16-month uprising.
Opposition activists immediately criticized the deal as leaving open the possibility that al-Assad would remain in power.
"The new agreement
provides vague language which is open to interpretation," the opposition
Local Coordination Committees of Syria said in a statement Sunday.
"This provides yet another opportunity for the regime's thugs to play
their favorite game in utilizing time in order to stop the popular
Syrian Revolution and extinguish it with violence and massacres across
Syria."
A spokesman for the Syrian National Council, a main political opposition group, similarly slammed the agreement.
"We are afraid that the
decision of the Geneva convention might give signs and gestures to the
Syrian regime that it is acceptable and a legitimate cover to continue
killing the people, and committing more massacres," Muhammad Farmini
told CNN.
"This gives the regime a permit to continue killing and spilling more Syrian blood," he said.
But Clinton said al-Assad and his inner circle would be excluded from any transitional government.
Both sides have to agree
on the membership of the interim body, and Clinton said there was "no
way anyone in the opposition would ever consent to Assad or his inside
regime cronies with blood on their hands being on any transitional
governing body."
"Assad will not be part of it," she said in an interview late Saturday in Geneva, Switzerland, after the deal was hammered out.
Kofi Annan, the joint
special envoy for the United Nations and Arab League, invited diplomats
from the U.N. Security Council and envoys from Turkey, the United
Nations, the European Union and the Arab League to the global meeting in
Geneva on Saturday.
Clinton said the
Russians, who have long been al-Assad's most steadfast supporters, had
finally decided to back a transition away from his rule.
"They have committed to
trying," she said. "But they also admitted that they may or may not have
enough leverage to convince not just one man, but a family and a regime
that their time is over."
Bloodshed continued
unabated in the wake of the international talks, with at least 69 people
dying on Sunday, according to the opposition Local Coordination
Committees of Syria.
It said Sunday that more
than half of the people killed since the Syrian crisis began 16 months
ago were slaughtered in the past four months.
More than 14,000 people have been killed by the regime, according to tallies from opposition activists.
June was a particularly gruesome month, with 2,386 people killed compared to 1,196 in May, the LCC said.
The dead on Sunday
include several people who died from injuries sustained in a blast at a
funeral procession in Zamalka on Saturday, the group said.
"Dr. Jamal Tabarneen was
martyred by the regime's army gunfire while he was helping in
resuscitating the injured in Zamalka's explosion," the LCC said.
The international group
meeting in Switzerland agreed that both the regime and opposition
fighters should immediately adopt a cease-fire and implement Annan's
six-point peace plan without waiting for the actions of others, Annan
said.
The group also called for a transitional government.
Annan said it could
include members of the current Syrian regime, making it theoretically
possible that al-Assad will be a part of the transition.
But Annan pointed out it is the Syrians who will decide the make-up.
"I think people who have
blood on their hands are hopefully not the only people in Syria," Annan
said. "I think the government will have to be formed through
discussion, negotiations, and by mutual consent. And I will doubt that
the Syrians -- who have fought so hard for their independence, to be
able to say how they're governed and who governs them -- will select
people with blood on their hands to lead them."
The LCC said it was
"gravely concerned" by what could happen in a transitional period with
al-Assad's military and security forces.
There are "core
conflicts between the Revolutionaries and Bashar al-Assad's pillars and
symbols, whose hands are stained with blood and must be excluded from
the transitional phase," the opposition group said. "No Syrian will
accept a regime waiver of responsibility over crimes and violations
against human rights."
The agreement in Geneva
also calls on the Syrian government to release detainees and allow
journalists access to the country. The right to peaceful demonstrations
must be respected, Annan said.
Clinton said the U.N.
Security Council should endorse the plan, thus allowing the possibility
of sanctions against Syria if the requirements aren't met.
Russia, widely viewed as
a key ally to the Syrian regime, said the agreement should not be
interpreted as outside powers imposing a transitional government on the
Syrians. That process must come from inside Syria, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov.
end quote from:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/01/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html
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