Monday, July 11, 2011

Syrian 'national dialogue' conference boycotted by angry opposition


The Charade of the "Dialogue" as Seen by the Syrian Cartoonist Ali Ferzat.
Vice-president says talks will lead to 'the transformation of Syria', but dissidents refuse to attend while crackdown continues

Nidaa Hassan in Damascus and Julian Borger
guardian.co.uk
, Sunday 10 July 2011

"Opposition leaders boycotted a "national dialogue" conference on reform with Syria's ruling Ba'ath party on Sunday, vowing not to meet the regime while protesters were still being killed in the streets.....

But the 200 delegates consisted mainly of Ba'ath party members, intellectuals close to the regime and independent parliamentarians. Opposition figures, activists in the Local Co-ordinating Committees (LCC) who represent protesters and exiled dissidents, said they rejected email invitations due to the continuing killing and lack of trust in the regime's promises to reform.

"While the regime is meetingand that is what today was – there are funerals in other cities and people continue to be killed and arrested," said Razan Zeitouneh, a lawyer and LCC member in Damascus...."

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