Clinton: No more time to wait and see on Syria

ISTANBUL (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed doubt Sunday about whether President Bashar Assad would ever adhere to a U.N.-sponsored peace plan to end Syria’s year of bloodshed, and urged world solidarity against a regime that she said was waging war on its own people.

Clinton told the 60 nations attending the “Friends of the Syrian People” conference in Turkey that no one could “sit back and wait any longer,” even as the United States refuses to entertain military options to intervene in the crisis. Instead, she urged unity behind a plan that includes more sanctions, humanitarian aid, support for the opposition and the promise of justice one day for the Assad regime’s willing accomplices in human rights atrocities.

“We meet at an urgent moment for Syria and the region,” Clinton said.

International pressure forced Assad to agree to U.N. mediator Kofi Annan’s proposal, which includes an immediate a cease-fire, she noted, adding that “nearly a week has gone by, and we have to conclude that the regime is adding to its long list of broken promises.”

The meeting aims to further isolate Assad’s government and bolster a divided Syrian opposition. The United States and its European and Arab allies have papered over some of their own disagreements on how best to advance the cause of the opposition and help bring about the regime’s collapse, with countries agreeing for now to hold off on military options from directly arming the anti-Assad rebels to creating buffer or safe zones within Syria for them to operate.

Clinton lamented that Assad promised to pull his regime’s forces back, silence its heavy weapons, allow peaceful demonstration and access for humanitarian aid and journalists. He also should begin a political transition, she said.

But, “rather than pull back, Assad’s troops have launched new assaults on Syrian cities and towns,” she said. “Rather than allowing access for humanitarian aid, security forces have tightened their siege of residential neighborhoods in Homs and elsewhere. And rather than beginning a political transition, the regime has crushed dozens of peaceful protests.”

Annan has urged the Syrian government to lay down its arms first, a challenge Assad’s loyalists are rejecting. On Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi said the government will not pull tanks and troops from towns and cities engulfed by unrest before life returns to normal there, describing the military’s actions as those to reinforce “stability.”

Activists reported fresh violence Saturday that killed more than two dozen people. The U.N. estimates more than 9,000 people have been killed since the uprising to oust Assad began in March 2011.

Clinton said Syrians will continue to defend themselves until Assad halts the violence. She said they should simultaneously build momentum “toward a new Syria: free, unified and at peace.”

The U.S. and other countries are trying to help a splintered opposition coalesce. As part of that effort, they are helping the leading Syrian National Council restructure itself to be more transparent and inclusive so that minority and other groups still supportive of the Assad regime will break ranks. For those groups wishing to remain outside the SNC, Washington hopes they’ll at least unite around a “common vision for a free, democratic and pluralist Syria that protects the rights of all citizens and all communities.”

As part of U.S. efforts to know more about the opposition, Clinton met with five people including SNC chief Burhan Ghalioun and Christian and Islamist representatives. Asked directly by one woman for more assistance, Clinton said it had been difficult to gauge how best to aid the opposition, but that the world was now coming with more help.

Ghalioun said a new Syria would be formed, with the Golan Heights being returned by legitimate means, meaning talks. He added they would support the Palestinian’s struggle.

Ghalioun also called for additional measures, including the strengthening of Syrian rebel forces as well as “security corridors” inside Syria, an apparent reference to the foreign military intervention that the nations meeting in Istanbul have so far been reluctant to support.

“No one should allow this regime to feel at ease or to feel stronger by giving them a longer maneuvering area,” he said, reflecting fears that Assad would try to use the Annan plan to prolong his tenure. “It’s enough that the international community has flirted with the regime in Syria. Something has to change.”

Clinton also announced $12 million in additional aid for Syria’s people — doubling the total American assistance so far. And she said the U.S. was providing communications equipment to help opposition members in Syria organize, remain in contact with the outside world and evade regime attacks.

Dozens of countries on Sunday were among those seeking to set conditions for a new Syria, pushing for tighter sanctions and diplomatic pressure to further isolate President Bashar Assad, while urging the opposition to offer a democratic alternative to his regime.

“The Syrian regime should not be allowed at any cost to manipulate this plan to gain time,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an opening address.

Erdogan also indicated military options might have to be considered, if Syria does not cooperate with Annan’s plan and the U.N. Security Council fails to unite in opposition to Assad. He referred to the vetoes of U.N. censure of Assad by Russia and China, which fear the measures could lead to foreign military intervention.

“If the U.N. Security Council fails once again to bring about its historic responsibility, there will be no other choice than to support the Syrian people’s right to self-defense,” Erdogan said.

The one-day meeting followed an inaugural forum in Tunisia in February. Since then, Syrian opposition figures have tried to convince international sponsors that they can overcome their differences and shape the future of a country whose autocratic regime has long denied the free exchange of ideas.

Syria blasted the conference, calling it part of an international conspiracy to kill Syrians and weaken the country.

A front-page editorial in the official Al-Baath newspaper called it a “regional and international scramble to search for ways to kill more Syrians, sabotage their society and state, and move toward the broad objective of weakening Syria.”

In Istanbul, police used tear gas and batons to disperse a group of about 40 Assad supporters who tried to approach the conference building. Many held portraits of the Syrian leader. One man waved Chinese and Russian flags.

But a comprehensive solution does not appear imminent without the cooperation of the Syrian government, whose military assaults on towns and cities have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes. Syrian rebels, including army defectors, are fighting regime forces, but have been unable to consolidate their hold on territory because they are heavily outgunned.

Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, and Turkey has floated the idea of establishing a buffer zone inside Syria, if the flow of displaced people onto its territory becomes overwhelming. There are concerns that foreign intervention, even if it has a humanitarian goal, could widen the conflict by dragging in other countries and triggering a surge in sectarian tensions.

Some Gulf countries want to arm the Syrian rebels, though there is uncertainty about the composition of rebel groups and their lack of cohesion. The United States, in an election year, says military force against the Syrian government is a last resort.

The officials meeting in Istanbul aim to create a sanctions working group that will share information on who is shipping arms and money to Assad, thereby avoiding harsh sanctions aimed at forcing his regime to stop its crackdown. The United Nations estimates more than 9,000 people have been killed since the uprising to oust Assad began a year ago.

There is also a move to document the killing in Syria, collecting witness records that can be used to bring perpetrators of human rights abuses to account in a post-Assad era, whether inside Syria or through international courts.