Syrian opposition rejects plan for transitional government

Turmoil will likely continue after Syrian opposition groups rejected a compromise plan for a new transitional government.

By Zeina Karam,?Associated Press / July 1, 2012

In this citizen journalism image a Syrian girl chants slogans during a demonstration in Idlib, north Syria on Friday. Syria?s main opposition group said nearly 800 people have been killed in violence across the country in the past week which saw some of the bloodiest violence in the 16-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.

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Syria's?main opposition groups rejected on Sunday a new international plan that calls for a transitional government because the compromise agreement did not bar President Bashar Assad from participating.

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Their reaction held out little hope for an end to more than 15 months of carnage on a day when the main opposition group said 800 people were killed in violence in the past week alone.

Opposition activists groups say more than 14,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian rule began in March 2011, or on average about 900 a month. That would make last week's toll alone almost as high as the monthly average as government forces furiously pounded rebellious towns and cities with helicopters, tanks and artillery in an offensive aimed at recovering rebel-held territories.

World powers at a conference in Geneva on Saturday accepted a U.N.-brokered plan calling for creation of a transitional national unity government with full executive powers in?Syria. But at Russia's insistence, the compromise agreement left the door open to Assad being part of the interim administration. It could also include members of Assad's government and the opposition and other groups. The transitional government would oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.

However?Syria's?fragmented opposition has long opposed any solution that involved negotiating with Assad or allowing him to cling to power.

Bassma Kodmani, a Paris-based spokeswoman for the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), said the agreement is "ambiguous" and lacks a mechanism or timetable for implementation. She said there were some positive elements in the plan, which implies that all members of the Security Council were in agreement that the transition period must not be led by Assad. But she said this needs to be more explicit.

"We cannot say that there is any positive outcome today," Kodmani said.

The regime did not react to the plan. But Assad has repeatedly said his government has a responsibility to eliminate terrorists ? his term for those fighting the regime ? and will not accept any non-Syrian model of governance.

Fayez Sayegh, a prominent lawmaker and member of the ruling Baath party, expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the conference, saying participants left it up to the Syrian people to decide their fate and form of governance.

"The conference ... did not discuss matters that have to do with the president as Western countries would have wished," Sayegh told The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/M1LeR5P-j9M/Syrian-opposition-rejects-plan-for-transitional-government

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