(Telegraph-UK) Ruth Sherlock and Carol Malouf - Syrian opposition groups were due to convene in the Qatari capital Doha on Thursday to appoint a new and supposedly more representative leadership. But on the eve of the conference three of the dissident bodies included in the U.S.-backed initiative refused to attend. Representatives from the National Coordinating Committee, the Syrian Democratic Platform, and the Kurdish ethnic minority rejected the plan. "There are too many people against this initiative for it to work now," said a Western diplomatic source in Doha. The plan's failure is a blow to Hillary Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state, who had announced it unexpectedly a week ago. "Everyone feels that this initiative is imposed," said Ahmed Zaidan, the deputy head of the Revolutionary Council, a body that coordinates with armed groups inside Syria.
2012-11-09 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive