* July 6 meeting gathers anti-Assad nations
* Rejects efforts to include Iran in solution to crisis
* Qatar PM says time for Annan plan to be imposed by U.N.
(Recasts with French comments, Qatar Prime Minister)
PARIS, June 7 (Reuters) – France will host a meeting on July
6 of countries that back the departure of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad but said on Thursday it would not include Iran
in attempts to resolve the crisis.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero confirmed Paris
would host a third “Friends of Syria” meeting as world powers
seek a way to stop the bloodshed in the uprising against Assad.
“(It) will bring together all the states and organisations
that want to bring their support to the Syrian people at a time
when the humanitarian and security situation is becoming worse
and the crackdown continues,” Valero said.
About 50 nations, including the United States, Britain,
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, will take part. The group’s
previous meetings have yielded very little given the political
stalemate and lack of desire to intervene militarily.
“The Iranian regime until now has without fail supported
Bashar al-Assad and the bloody repression of his people,” Valero
said. “In this context, it is not possible to have it associated
with resolving the Syrian crisis.”
France, along with Western and some Arab states, is trying
to increase the pressure on Damascus. It has been seeking to
reach a compromise with Russia, a supporter of Assad, to allow
tougher action by the Security Council and move towards a
political transition.
Valero said the conference in Paris would include the
opposition and be within the “framework of efforts by the
international community to ensure … (Kofi) Annan’s six-point
plan is efficiently put into effect”.
Russia, which will be invited to the July meeting, said in
April the Friends of Syria group was “destructive” and could
undermine Annan’s peace efforts which it says must not be
abandoned despite persistent violence.
The central plank of Annan’s peace plan was a ceasefire that
never took hold.
Speaking after meeting French President Francois Hollande,
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who has
previously advocated arming rebels, said the Syrian government
had done everything to ensure the Annan plan failed.
“It is our view that the six-point plan must be placed under
U.N. Charter chapter 7 so that we can impose it,” he said.
“This is what we suggested at the (foreign ministers)
meeting we just had (in Istanbul on Wednesday). Yesterday, most
countries agreed to place the plan under Chapter 7, but we need
Russia and China to agree.”
(Reporting by John Irish, Alexandria Sage; and Elizabeth
Pineau; Editing by Robert Woodward)
