Brahimi: Al-Assad Could Contribute to New Syria

Local Editor

International envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in Damascus Monday at the end of a Middle East tour to promote a Geneva conference.
In an interview published Monday, Brahimi said he believed Bashar al-Assad could contribute to the transition to a "new" Syria.

 "Many of those around [al-Assad] believe his candidacy [for a new presidential term in 2014] is a fact. He considers this an absolute right ... He thinks above all of completing his mandate," the veteran Algerian diplomat said in an interview in Paris with the Jeune Afrique website.

Brahimi further stated that the US-Russian accord to dismantle Syria's chemical arsenal had transformed al-Assad into a "partner" and convinced his supporters even more of his ability to prevail.

The UN diplomat also faces an uphill battle in convincing the fractured opposition to attend the Geneva talks, after 19 extremist armed groups warned that anyone taking part in the talks would be considered a traitor.

"This conference is the beginning of a process. We hope that the opposition will manage to agree on a credible and representative delegation," Brahimi said.
"We should not delude ourselves: the entire world will not be present. But as the process continues, it should include as much of the world as possible."
Brahimi, a veteran international troubleshooter, said he feared that if a settlement could not be reached Syria may become a failed state like Somalia, which has not had a functioning government for two decades.

"The real threat in Syria is not the partition of the country. The real danger is a sort of "Somalization," but even more deep and lasting than what we have seen in Somalia."

Ahead of his arrival in Syria, Brahimi visited capitals across the Middle East to discuss plans for the Geneva II meeting, tentatively set for Nov. 23, to try to halt more than two-and-a-half years of bloodshed in Syria.

Brahimi met Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Damascus Monday but there was no word on whether al-Assad would see him. Syrian state media did not refer to his arrival in the capital.

Russia Monday issued a stinging rebuke to the rebels.
"It is outrageous that some of these extremist, terrorist organizations fighting government forces in Syria are starting to make threats," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised comments. "The threats are directed at those who have the courage to attend the proposed Geneva conference being offered by Russia and the United States with the entire world's support."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team