Syria opposition begins Cairo talks
Cairo, July 2: Syria’s main exiled opposition groups met in Cairo on Monday to try to forge a common vision for a political transition in Syria after criticising a blueprint agreed by the major powers.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, who chaired the meeting attended by around 250 opposition figures, urged the factions “not to waste this opportunity” and to “unite.” Arabi also stressed the need for “a pluralist democratic system that does not discriminate between Syrians.”
Nasser al-Qudwa, deputy to UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan, echoed Arabi’s call, telling the opposition to “unify your vision and your performance.”
“This is not a choice, but a necessity if the opposition wants to gain the trust of its people in Syria,” Qudwa told the meeting which was also attended by the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iraq and Kuwait.
The two- day meeting was being held behind closed doors and comes as violence continues in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that more than 16,500 people have been killed in violence since the uprising against President Bashar al- Assad broke out in March last year.
On Monday the Syrian army kept up its bombardment of rebel neighbourhoods of the central city of Homs as violence killed at least seven people across the country, the watchdog said.
An activist in Homs said via Skype that many civilians remained trapped in the shelling of the Jurat alShiah, Khaldiyeh and Old City neighbourhoods of Syria’s third-largest city.
“Many neighbourhoods of Homs are still under siege, and it is really hard for us to get food or medicines in,” said Khaled alTellawy. “Field doctors are amputating the limbs of the injured because they have no equipment to treat them with, and they can’t be smuggled out.” — AFP Saudi Arabia on Monday called on the international community to take “decisive measures” to end the spiralling bloodshed in Syria, a cabinet statement said. President Bashar AlAssad’s regime “must immediately end the massacres and fully implement the... (UN) plan,” a statement said.