AFP, Ottawa, 4 Oct 2011 – Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird on Tuesday announced new sanctions against Syria targeting its oil exports and investments in its oil fields, upping the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
‘We are toughening and expanding our sanctions against Syria,’ said Baird, decrying the regime’s crackdown on a pro-democracy protest movement that has so far left 2,700 people dead, according to UN estimates.
‘The measures that we’re announcing today will support international efforts to exert concentrated efforts on the Assad regime,’ he said.
Baird said the sanctions were ‘one way that we can show, on the day the United Nations is debating this, that Canada is prepared to do our part and stand up against the really repressive actions of the Assad regime in Syria.’
The sanctions prohibit the purchase of oil or petroleum products from Syria or investing in Syria’s oil industry.
Canada also added 27 people said to be close to Assad and 12 entities linked to his regime to a list of people or companies facing sanctions, bringing the total of those entities targeted to 77.
Those measures include a travel ban and assets freeze.
Baird’s announcement comes as the United Nations Security Council was debating a resolution that would target Assad’s regime.