The delicate identification of a common terrain to bring to what is being called the Geneva II Conference, and the coordination and presumable strengthening of international support for the opposition to Bashar Al Assad’s government, will be the main topics of discussion at one of the most important thus far of the ministerial meetings of the Friends of Syria. Tomorrow’s meeting in Doha Qatar of the High Level Group of the Friends of Syria (otherwise know at the London 11) will include Italy, represented by Minister for Foreign Affairs Emma Bonino.
Steps to take at the ‘Geneva II’
In addition to Italy, High Level Group participants include the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and follows on that held on 22 May in Amman where, on the impetus of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) was urged to bring a constructive spirit to the Geneva process, a process with regard to which the G8, meeting earlier in the week in Northern Ireland, clearly left an open door.
After U.S. Policy Review, decision expected on forms of support for Syrian opposition
At Doha, therefore, the goal will be to strengthen the basis on which in the near future to bring the organisation to the Conference and, at the same time, to discuss ways to support those opposition forces. Support that could go toward further and perhaps decisive reinforcement, after the American administration decision to launch a policy review on Syria, recognising the existence of proof of the regime’s limited use of chemical weapons and contemplating, for the first time, the limited supply of lethal arms to the opposition by the U.S. For its part, the Syrian Free Army (which is fighting the forces faithful to the Syrian regime), has been reiterating its direct request that the countries meeting at Doha forge a “clear and official position” on arming the opposition.
Meeting held on impetus of Qatar Premier, 11 countries attend
The Doha meeting was organised on the impetus of Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani, and will see the presence of eleven foreign ministers: Italy’s Emma Bonino will join U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, France’s Laurent Fabius, Germany’s Guido Westerwelle and Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague; and the meeting will have one goal: to find a solution to a conflict with a death toll, according to UN estimates, of 93,000.
