Paris to Invite Foreign Ministers to Syria Sanctions Talks
France's Alain Juppe plans has invited several of his fellow foreign ministers to talks in Paris on Thursday on ways to boost the pressure on Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime, a government source said.
The official said the meeting and the guest list were not finalized, but that Juppe hoped to host around a dozen ministers, some of whom will be in the region already for NATO talks in nearby Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday.
"The goal is to maintain the pressure," the source said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because planning for the meeting was still underway.
Earlier, Juppe met more junior officials from 50 of the countries that have imposed sanctions on Assad's regime in a bid to stop the violent repression of a year-old popular revolt that has left more than 11,000 dead.
After talks in Paris, the countries expressed "strong disapproval of any financial or other support, in particular the continuation of arms sales to the Syrian regime", in a clear reference to Russia.
They called on all states "that have not yet applied pressure to join in our efforts and to further isolate the Syrian regime."
The statement also urged "businessmen who are financially supporting this bloody repression... to break their links with the regime."
The meeting was attended by officials from the European Union, Arab League, United States, Switzerland, Australia, Canada and Turkey, but not by officials from Russia, Iran, Lebanon or Iraq.
The group called on Syria to "respect its obligations under joint United Nations-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's plan and implement a political transition meeting the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people."
"Sanctions are not targeting the Syrian civilian population," it said, blaming Syrian economic difficulties on the isolated regime which "discourages through its attitude all economic activity in Syria."
Since the start of the uprising just over a year ago several states and organizations have imposed unilateral sanctions.
But attempts to create a unified international sanctions regime under the U.N. Security Council were vetoed by Russia and China, and Western powers and the Arab League are pushing for tougher global action.
Addressing the meeting, Juppe said sanctions were working.
"Sanctions are an effective tool to strip the Syrian regime of the resources it needs to finance its militias -- the grim death squads it calls the shabiha -- and to buy weapons," Juppe said.
"Measures targeting the banking and financial sector, notably a freeze on the holdings of the Syrian Central Bank, have seen oil revenues dry up and withdrawn precious resources from the Syrian state," he said.
"We know that the Syrian authorities, whose financial reserves have according to our information, been cut in half, are actively seeking alternative ways to get round these sanctions," he warned.
U.N. observers acknowledged on Tuesday that they face a tough task to oversee a firm ceasefire in Syria, as five civilians were killed in the latest violence on the sixth day of a tenuous truce.
Source: Agence France Presse
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