By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
ISTANBUL, Jan 20 (Reuters) – The head of Syria’s opposition
coalition has flown to Qatar to secure promises of financial aid
for a transitional government in rebel-held areas, sources at
negotiations in Istanbul said on Sunday.
The talks on agreeing a transitional government had been hit
by disagreement over whether a transitional government could
survive when the Syrian National Coalition President Moaz
Alkhatib left in the middle of deliberations, the sources said.
“It seems that there won’t be a government unless Sheikh
Moaz comes back from Qatar with enough to convince enough
members of the coalition that any government they set up will be
viable,” said one coalition member who did not want to be named.
The talks launched Saturday are the opposition’s second bid
to form a transitional government, with its credibility at stake
as the country slides into sectarian conflict between majority
Sunnis and President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
The Syrian opposition is set for more talks in Paris on Jan.
28, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told radio station
Europe 1.
The 70-member coalition, dominated by Islamists and their
allies, was formed with Western and Gulf backing in Qatar at the
beginning of December. Power struggles among its members have
undermining efforts to agree a transitional government.
The United Nations says 60,000 people have been killed in
the almost two-year revolt against Assad. A collapse of the
country could draw in rival powers in a region where the
Sunni-Shi’ite faultline has deepened since the Arab Spring
revolts began in Tunisia two years ago.
Some coalition members doubt a transitional government is
viable yet.
“There is agreement on the need to establish a transitional
government but the majority opinion favours not to form it now
without secure areas to operate in and enough international
support and guarantees for direct recognition,” Coalition member
Ahmad Ramadan said.
“Otherwise the government will be born paralysed,” he added.
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
The Muslim Brotherhood, the only organised force in the
Syrian opposition, has made it clear it does not favour a
government at present. But opposition sources said the
Brotherhood could change its mind if regional powers, especially
Turkey and Gulf states, throw their support behind the project.
“Between the military effort and humanitarian and
administration needs a transitional government needs up to $40
million a day to operate. There is no point creating a
government that cannot meet the aspirations of the revolt,”
another source said.
Assad’s forces massacred over 100 Sunni men, women and
children when they overran an opposition-held district in the
central city of Homs last week, in the latest in a string of
ethnic cleansing of Sunni areas, according to opposition
campaigners.
They said the massacre was part of a campaign to secure an
open corridor for Alawite forces deployed on hills in Damascus
and coastal bases. The Alawites, who have controlled Syria’s
military and security apparatus since the 1960s, follow an
offshoot of Shi’ite Islam and comprise about ten percent of the
population.
A few names have emerged as possible contenders for the
prime minister job. The best known was that of Riad Hijab, the
highest-ranking official to defect since the revolt, who does
not enjoy a good relationship with the Brotherhood.
“Hijab was proposed as prime minister today but angry shouts
rang immediately that he is a Baathist,” said one member,
referring to Assad’s ruling Baath Party, in which Hijab served
for decades.
(Additional reporting by Brian Love in Paris; Editing by Jason
Webb)
