Canada does not recognize Syrian opposition: Baird

www.ctvnews.ca

16 December 2012

Canada will not join the United States and other governments in recognizing the opposition as Syria’s legitimate “government-in-waiting.”

In an interview with CTV’s Question Period Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said he had carefully considered the move, but has decided the conditions aren’t in place yet.

“We’re prepared to work with them, we’re prepared to engage with them, but we’re not prepared to recognize them as the sole, legitimate voice, government-in-waiting of the Syrian people,” Baird said.

Two issues factored into the decision, he explained, starting with the need for any future government in Syria to be “truly representative” of all the ethnic and religious populations that live there.

In addition, Baird noted a small number of “radical extremists” involved in the rebel military campaign.

“So we’ll work with them, we’ll engage with them, but I think we’re going to fall short of recognizing them.”

At a conference in Morocco last week, representatives from more than 100 countries agreed to recognize the Syrian National Coalition, formed at a November meeting in Qatar, as the legitimate representative of the Syrian population.

Baird told CTV’s Kevin Newman he had a constructive meeting “for the better part of an hour” with the opposition chairman last week, after which the decision was made.

“We raised these concerns and certainly committed Canada would do more to provide support to the Syrian people,” he said.

Instead of joining the governments recognizing the opposition last week, Canada announced a $15 million boost in humanitarian aid to help Syria’s neighbours accommodate the mass influx of refugees.

Baird also pledged $5 million more for Jordan, on top of the $6.5 million Canada announced earlier this year. As well, another $10 million will go to international aid agencies that are helping refugees.

Commenting on the story, Ribal Al-Assad, Director of the ODFS, said:

“I welcome the cautious approach taken by the Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird towards not recognising the Syrian Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. He is absolutely right when he says the Syrian government in waiting must be truly representative of all the ethnic and religious populations that live there.

“The National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces cannot be the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people as it is not an all inclusive group. The major opposition groups that were excluded from the Doha meeting where the National Coalition was formed are the National Coordination Committee (NCC), the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian National Democratic Council (SNDC), Building the Syrian State and many other groups from the internal opposition in Syria.

“Therefore the Coalition does not represent or speak for every segment and every geographic part of Syria. So by definition it is not a credible opposition or government in waiting. Also one third of this coalition is made up of the discredited SNC.

“Mr. Baird is also right to point out that radical extremists are involved in the rebel military campaign and the implications of this.

“I call on the UN, US, EU and Canada to impress upon states in the Middle East who are arming the opposition and sending jihadist proxies to fight to stop immediately as their actions have only further militarised and escalated the conflict along sectarian lines

“I also call on the UN, US, EU and Canada to bring together all the Syrian opposition groups onto one platform so they become a genuinely inclusive opposition, which works towards a diplomatic solution based on the principles of the Kofi Annan Plan, which are to de-escalate the violence and have a ceasefire leading to a peaceful Syrian led transition through dialogue and negotiation.”