Bomb Explodes in Damascus as Countries Gather to Discuss Syria
Source: NYT
Published: June 30, 2012
BEIRUT, Lebanon As diplomats from major countries gathered on Saturday to try to broker a solution to the Syrian conflict, yet another bomb went off in the heart of the capital and the government boasted that it was continuing to pummel a rebellious suburb.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations and Arab League envoy who convened the meeting of nations in Geneva, warned in his opening remarks that the conflict was in danger of escalating into a severe international crisis, and chided global powers that their competing agendas had helped to fuel the violence. Differences over whether the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, can be part of a peace settlement has threatened to block progress.
An international crisis of grave severity now looms, said Mr. Annan, highlighting the threat of a regional spillover, a new front for the forces of international terrorism, the prospect of ever increasing radicalization and extremism, the specter of an ever greater slide into sectarian conflict, a violently unstable country filled with weapons including those of the most insidious kind and in the midst of one of the most delicately balanced and conflict-torn regions in the world.
This is the situation we have allowed to emerge, Mr. Annan continued. No one should be in any doubt as to the extreme dangers posed by the conflict to Syrians, to the region and to the world.
Mr. Annan called for a government of national unity with full executive powers that could include members of the present government but not include those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation. That suggested the exclusion of Mr. Assad, especially since the Syrian opposition has refused any discussion of a peace deal that includes the Syrian dictator.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/world/middleeast/future-of-syria-on-agenda-as-countries-gather-in-geneva.html
maddezmom
(135,060 posts)12:58pm EDT
MOSCOW | Sat Jun 30, 2012 12:27pm EDT
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will propose a new international meeting on the Syrian crisis in Moscow and that Syria should be represented, Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified source close to this weekend's talks in Geneva as saying on Saturday.
Russia and Western powers are at loggerheads over the international community's role in Syria, with foreign ministers and international diplomats trying to reach common grounds in Geneva for a peace deal in the country
more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/30/us-syria-crisis-russia-talks-idUSBRE85T0FG20120630
tabatha
(18,795 posts)Assad said that the solution to Syria will not come from outside.