Al Jazeera, 13 Nov 2012 – Arab League and European Union foreign ministers have pledged to support the Syrian opposition and welcomed recent steps to unite the various groups under a new, united banner, in order to facilitate a solution to the 20-month conflict.
“The ministers welcomed the formation of the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces. They called on all opposition groups to adhere to the national coalition and on the national coalition to engage with all sections of Syrian society,” said a statement issued at the close of the meeting held in Cairo on Tuesday.
Syria’s divided opposition had come under pressure from Western powers to join forces and offer a single interlocutor during negotiations, in order to provide a single contact for international critics of the regime’s efforts to stamp down the opposition since 2011.
The coalition brings together the Syrian National Council and other groups inside Syria.
France recognised the newly formed opposition coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people on Tuesday, the first Western country to do so.
“I announce that France recognises the Syrian National Coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people and thus as the future provisional government of a democratic Syria, allowing an end to the Bashar al-Assad regime,” Hollande told a press conference in Paris.
The French move came 24 hours after the coalition was recognised by the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.
The Arab League has recognised the coalition as “the legitimate representative of the Syrian people’s aspirations.”
Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi described it as “a glimmer of hope.”
Frustration over UN deadlock
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called on the group “to demonstrate they are acting on behalf of all Syria’s communities. The more progress the coalition makes towards those goals, the greater practical support it will have from the United Kingdom.”
Hague expressed frustration at the deadlock on Syria in the UN Security Council, saying that “our efforts … to encourage the UNSC to take on its responsibilities have been vetoed by Russia and China. In the absence of such progress, we will increase our support to Syrian opposition groups.”
Moscow and Beijing, both allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have vetoed three Western-and Arab-backed resolutions at the Security Council condemning the Syrian regime for violence.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country “is ready to join hands with the Arab League to help (the new alliance) to become a credible and inclusive alternative to al-Assad’s regime.”
Westerwelle and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius both met the head of the coalition, Mouaz al-Khatib.