THE 70-country “Friends of Syria” gathering in Tunis yesterday proposed a UN peacekeeping mission for Syria after a possible end of hostilities between government and rebels.
Once a ceasefire was achieved, civilian peacekeepers would enter the country, with the agreement of the government, under a “chapter six” UN Security Council resolution requiring the parties to seek a peaceful resolution through negotiations.
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan has been appointed the world organisation’s envoy to consult “with all relevant interlocutors within and outside Syria”, bring “an end to all violence and human rights violations” and promote “a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis”.
The US, EU and Arab countries have demanded that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad immediately halt military operations and allow food and medical aid into areas currently under siege.
If he does not comply he will face increasing international isolation, sanctions, and, almost certainly, increased arming of the rebels.
The EU is to freeze the assets of Syria’s central bank from Monday, ratcheting up sanctions on the government with the aim of ending the crackdown on the opposition.
“If the Assad regime refuses to allow this life-saving aid to reach civilians, it will have more blood on its hands. So, too, will those nations that continue to protect and arm the regime.
“We call on those states that are supplying weapons to kill civilians to halt immediately,” said US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, referring to Russia and China, which boycotted the meeting on the grounds that the government was not invited.
While the Syrian National Council, a coalition of western-supported opposition exiles, attended the meeting, Syria-based opposition groups were absent. The council was critical of the “Friends” for failing to designate the council as the representative of the opposition or to authorise the arming of rebel fighters.
Although the meeting did not back the creation of humanitarian corridors, those attending pledged to provide millions of dollars of food and medical aid, which would be distributed from bordering countries Jordan and Turkey and, perhaps, Lebanon.
While Britain announced it would recognise the council as “a legitimate representative” of Syria, the conference as a whole only urged the divided opposition to unite.
The Tunis conference split into two factions. The US, Britain and Tunisia, adhered publicly to a humanitarian agenda, while France and the Gulf states pressed for arming the rebels. Saudi foreign minister prince Saud al-Faisal stormed out of the meeting after saying the humanitarian approach was “not enough.”
Riyadh has been accused by some of waging a proxy war in Syria against Tehran, an ally of Damascus. Diplomatic sources have told CNN that Arab countries have been smuggling weapons to the rebels.
Chris Doyle, head of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, remarked to al-Jazeera that the Tunis gathering showed the “Friends of Syria were more divided than the friends of Assad”.
In Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent entered the besieged rebel stronghold of Bab Amr in Homs and began evacuating ailing and wounded people, including French journalists Edith Bouvier and William Daniels and British photographer Paul Conroy.
They survived shelling that killed US war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik on Wednesday.
Opposition activists reported that 51-66 people were killed during the day, 18 in a village in central Syria.
The UN estimates that during the past year 5,400 civilians died; the government says more than 2,000 military and security personnel have been killed.
The gulf between the contested enclaves and Damascus has widened, with citizens of the capital enjoying the weekly day of rest, walking in parks and attending noon prayers in mosques.
Many, however, remained glued to Syrian television’s live broadcast of the Tunis meeting, its attendees accused of being “Enemies of Syria.”