Clinton slams Russia and China for Syria stance

US Secretary of State predicts military coup, says people around Assad ‘didn’t sign up to slaughter people’

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton blasted Russia and China as “despicable” for opposing UN action aimed at stopping the bloodshed in Syria, and more than 60 nations began planning a civilian peacekeeping mission to deploy after the Damascus regime halts its crackdown on the opposition.

Clinton went on to predict a military coup inside Syria of the kind that ended the old regimes in Egypt and Tunisia.

“We saw this happen in other settings last year, I think it is going to happen in Syria,” she told reporters at the end of the meeting. “We also know from many sources that there are people around Assad who are beginning to hedge their bets — they didn’t sign up to slaughter people.”

Assad allies Russia and China, which blocked UN action on Syria and are eager to head off any repeat of the kind of foreign intervention that happened in Libya, gave no sign they would agree to peacekeepers. Moscow and Beijing have vetoed UN Security Council resolutions backing Arab League plans aimed at ending the conflict and condemning Assad’s crackdown.

Their vetoes prompted a particularly strong reaction from Clinton.

“It’s quite distressing to see two permanent members of the Security Council using their veto while people are being murdered — women, children, brave young men — houses are being destroyed,” she said. “It is just despicable and I ask whose side are they on? They are clearly not on the side of the Syrian people.”

The conference, meeting for the first time as a unified bloc, called on Assad to end the violence immediately and allow humanitarian aid into areas hit by his regime’s crackdown. The group pledged to boost relief shipments and set up supply depots along Syria’s borders, but it was unclear how it would be distributed without government approval.

Assad’s regime blames the violence on terrorists and armed thugs — not people who want to reform the system.

The Friends of Syria group also vowed to step up ties with the Syrian National Council, an opposition umbrella group. They took a tentative step toward recognition by declaring the council to be “a legitimate representative” of the Syrian people, a possible precursor to calling it “the legitimate representative.”

Despite the show of unity, which diplomats said they hoped would impress upon Assad that the end of his family’s four-decade autocratic rule is inevitable and at hand, there were signs of division. Some nations argued for arming Assad’s foes, while others called for the creation of protected humanitarian corridors to deliver aid.

Neither idea was included in the conference’s final document, which instead focused on steps nations should take to tighten the noose on the regime, including boycotting Syrian oil, imposing travel and financial sanctions on Assad’s inner circle, and working with the opposition to prepare for a post-Assad Syria, including lucrative commercial deals. It also welcomed the appointment of former UN chief Kofi Annan to be a joint UN-Arab League special envoy for Syria.

On the sanctions front, France said the European Union would on Monday freeze assets of Syria’s national bank held in EU jurisdictions while Clinton vowed that already tough US penalties would be strengthened.

Highlighting the divisions, though, Saudi Arabia called publicly for weapons and ammunition to be sent to the opposition, including the Free Syrian Army, a Turkey-based outfit made up largely of Assad regime defectors.

Clinton demurred on the question. But on Thursday in London, she said the opposition would eventually find arms from some suppliers if Assad keeps up the relentless assault.

The Obama administration initially opposed arming the opposition but has recently opened the door to the possibility by saying that while a political solution is preferable, other measures may be needed if the onslaught doesn’t end.

The Syrian National Council, for its part, said it would be grateful for help in any area.

“We welcome any assistance you might offer, or means to protect our brothers and sisters who are struggling to end the rule of tyranny,” council president Burhan Ghalioun told the conference. He laid out the council’s goal of a free, democratic Syria free of the “rule of a Mafia family” in which the rights of all would be respected.

Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, who has been a driving force to unite Arab opinion against the Syrian regime, directly called on Assad to step down. And, together with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, he called for the creation of humanitarian corridors to get aid to embattled citizens.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, the host of Friday’s conference who only recently assumed power after his country became the first in the Arab Spring to topple its longtime leader last year, called for an Arab peacekeeping force to ensure stability during an eventual transition.

“We have to respond to the demand of the majority of the Syrian people to get rid of a corrupt, persecuting regime,” he said. “We have to stop the bloodshed, but this cannot be through military intervention.”

The Friends group recognized this call by giving a green light to UN chief Ban Ki-moon to start drawing up plans for such a joint Arab League-U.N. peacekeeping operation that would be comprised of civilian police officers. Ban is expected to begin recruiting possible contributors to the mission and preparing its mandate.

As the conference began, about 200 pro-Assad demonstrators tried to storm the hotel. The protest forced Clinton to be diverted briefly to her hotel.

The protesters, waving Syrian and Tunisian flags, tussled with police and carried signs criticizing Clinton and President Barack Obama. They were driven out of the parking lot by police after about 15 minutes.

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Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Anita Snow at the United Nations contributed to this report.