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Assad must go at start of transition: Kingdom

نيسان ـ نشر في 2016-03-06 الساعة 15:15

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نيسان ـ

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arabnews

Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave office as soon as a transitional authority is set up, Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said Saturday, insisting there is no way he can retain power.

Talks between the regime and Syrian opposition, due to resume soon in Geneva, aim to set up a political transition process to end the country’s five-year-old war. A UN-brokered international road map foresees a transitional authority by the middle of this year and elections by mid-2017.

“Assad has to leave at the beginning of the process,” the minister told reporters in Paris. Referring to the sequence of events, he said: “There is a transitional body, power shifts from Assad to the transitional body, and then he goes.”

After that “the transitional body drafts a constitution, prepares for elections. Some are arguing that no, Bashar leaves at the elections in 18 months, that’s not how we think.

“For us it is very clear, he leaves at the beginning of the process, not at the end.”

Syria peace talks set for March 9 will begin the following day with participants due to arrive in Geneva over several days, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said earlier Saturday.

A first round of talks in early February was cut short amid intensifying Russian air strikes in Syria in support of Assad’s forces.

But a fragile cease-fire drawn up by Russia and the United States and backed by the UN Security Council that entered into force on Feb. 27 is now in its second week, despite accusations of violations.

“The Syrian people have spoken when they took up arms against Bashar Assad and their message is very very clear: He is not going to be their president... they have already decided with their feet, with their guns,” he said.

Discussing Syrian opposition reluctance to travel to Geneva to resume peace talks, he admitted that “they can’t go into talks empty-handed.”

Syria’s main opposition leader Riad Hijab said Friday that conditions were not yet right for talks to resume, stressing shortfalls in humanitarian aid and breaches of the cease-fire implemented a week ago.

“Our position is to support them 200 percent,” said Al-Jubeir. “We don’t question. We may advise, express our views to them, but we support them,” he added.

Al-Jubeir also said Saudi Arabia will take delivery of French arms it originally ordered for Lebanon.

In February, Saudi Arabia suspended a $3 billion aid package for the Lebanese army in response to Beirut’s failure to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.

“We made the decision that we will stop the $3 billion from going to the Lebanese military and instead they will be rediverted to the Saudi military,” Al-Jubeir said. “So the contracts (with France) will be completed but the clients will be the Saudi military.”

He also said that Saudi Arabia will maintain its oil market share and the idea that it would cut production, while other countries increase it is not a realistic one. “Our view is market forces determine the price of oil and we will maintain our market share and markets will recover.”

نيسان ـ نشر في 2016-03-06 الساعة 15:15

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