Syria’s Coalition Suffering Further Divisions: No Interim Gov’t

Local Editor

Despite Western and Arab pressures and supports, the Syrian opposition's failures continue.This time another delay as no agreement was reached on forming a so-called government. In details, the so-called Syrian National Coalition has postponed a meeting to form a provisional government.This resembled the last setback to opposition efforts to create an administration.


The meeting to elect a provisional prime minister, which was due to be held on March 12 after being postponed once already, has been rescheduled for March 20, but it was uncertain it would be held even then, the sources said.
"We cannot afford a split over this issue any more. The revolution was not born chaotic," said coalition member Kamal al-Labwani.
Labwani said the coalition was split in two over the merits of forming government, with some preferring to wait to see if UN mediator al-Akhdar Ibrahimi's efforts to form a transitional government as part of a political compromise succeed.
"Other wanted to form a government immediately to pre-empt any deal that could see [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad remaining in power," Labwani stated.
A second coalition source said that the meeting could go ahead on March 20 and that even if only a small number of members attended they could approve a government with a simple majority.

Meanwhile, as-Safir Lebanese daily reported that the leader of the SNC, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, have turned on his coalition and his allies, as he refused to form an interim government.
According to the daily, al-Khaib sent an internal message to his colleagues in the coalition, warning that such a move is so dangerous and will eventually lead to Syria's division.
"There is no meeting in Istanbul tomorrow," it added, and pointed out that "there is neither an interim government nor even an executive body to control the Syrian opposition-controlled areas in the north of Syria."

In his rejection, al-Khatib, sent an internal email to members of the coalition, apologizing again to attend the meeting, as well as expressing the Muslim Brotherhood's apology for his absence.
This led to losing the needed majority to resolve the issue of the formation of the interim government.
In his letter, al-Khatib presented the reasons behind his absence from a meeting, he wasn't invited to.

He further noted that there are some sides trying to impose their point of view on the former Umayyad Mosque Imam.
In parallel, al-Khatib criticized supporters of the Qatari solution, calling for the formation of an interim government, before the time runs out.
"They are rushing to occupy Syria's seat in the Arab League, given the condition that an interim government is formed before the coming Arab summit in Doha in the 26th of March," as-Safir mentioned.


Source: News Agencies/ as-Safir daily, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org