qurbejoog
Assad ready to quit power ?
On July 20, 2012 · In News
1:27 pm
..
0
Paris- Russia’s ambassador to France Alexandre Orlov, said on Friday he believed that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had accepted he would have to leave power although only in an orderly fashion.
But the Syrian government swiftly denied this.
Orlov said that Assad, facing a surging uprising against his rule, signalled readiness to step down when he accepted a recent international declaration which foresaw a transition towards a more democratic Syria.
“At the Geneva conference, there was a final communique that foresees a transition towards a more democratic system,’’ Orlov said.
“This final communique was accepted by Assad. Assad nominated his representative to lead the negotiations with the opposition for this transition. That means he accepted to leave, but in an orderly way.’’
Syria’s Information Ministry quickly denied this, saying Orlov’s remarks were “completely devoid of truth’’.
Orlov further said his personal opinion Assad would not be able to remain in power.
“I think it will be difficult for him to stay after everything that has happened. But essentially, he has accepted that he will have to leave.’’
Russia on Thursday blocked a Western-backed UN Security Council resolution that would have contained a threat to impose sanctions if Syria did not comply with UN-Arab League Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan.
Moscow has repeatedly said any deal must follow the principles outlined at talks in Geneva on June 30 between Annan and veto-holding members of the Security Council, which Russia until now had said did not specifically require Assad’s exit.
“What Russia is defending is not Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but international order that was created in 1945 around the UN,’’ Orlov said.
“For us it is a matter of principle that goes beyond what is happening in Syria.’’
A senior Western diplomat recommended caution with respect to Orlov’s comments. “We have not heard Assad say he is willing to step down before,’’ the diplomat said.
“But what does he mean? Does he mean now or in two years time. We have to be cautious.’’ (Reuters/NAN)
By: Amina Souleiman Somali women and women from all communities in the UK and around the world are outraged and condemn the speech made by Somaliland Minister of Presidency Hersi Ali Hassan at a public gathering in Liverpool on the evening of Saturday 1st February 2014. Somali women activists urge the British government and the…
By Louis Charbonneau New York, 13 Feb 2014 (SDN) –A confidential U.N. monitors’ report warns of “systematic abuses” by Somalia’s government, which the monitors say has allowed the diversion of weapons that Somali authorities purchased after the U.N. Security Council eased an arms embargo on Mogadishu last year. Some of the arms believed to have…
Nairobi, 13 Feb 2014 (SDN) –Somalia’s new cabinet should urgently adopt meaningful reforms to confront rampant sexual violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Over the past year, women and girls endured high levels of rape and sexual abuse, including by government soldiers, in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. “Many women and girls in…
Mogadishu, 13 Feb 2014 (SDN) –A car bomb explosion near the airport in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killed two people and wounded four more Thursday, police Capt. Mohamed Hussein said. Those killed were civilians, and four security guards were wounded. The blast occurred when a suicide attacker drove an explosives-laden car into two bulletproof U.N….
Kenya’s High Court on Wednesday denied bail on four Somali terror suspects charged with connection with Jan. 16 blast at the East African country’s main airport. Senior Principal Magistrate Doreen Mulekyo had earlier released Hassan Abdi Mohammed, Mohammed Osman Ali, Yusuf Warsame and Garad Hassan Fer on 233,000 US dollars bond each and two Kenyan…
A woman who lied to a grand jury probing local ties to the terror group al-Shabaab can be deported to Somalia even if a federal judge shows lenience when he sentences her in April, the government contends. Prosecutors argue in a legal memo filed Wednesday that Saynab Abdirashid Hussein’s crime of perjury involved terrorism, and…
Mogadishu, 12 Feb 2014 (SDN) –Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud contradicted reports published on Online Media, saying that he was admitted to a hospital in Istanbul. A number of Somali websites and social media circulated that the President’s health is very critical, some saying that he is died on Wednesday. Speaking to the state…
Hargeisa, 12 Feb 2014 (SDN) –Leading a team of officials and Journalists, Presidency Minister Hirsi Ali Haji Hassan on Wednesday undertook inspection to ongoing road construction in Hargeisa-Berbera road to take stock of the progress as well as to monitor the progress of the blacktopping and drainage construction work on the Laforuug to Berbera road….
NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan official says security agents are looking for a Somali national believed to be part of a terror group plotting an attack in Uganda. A senior security official, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak with the press, said Wednesday that intelligence reports show that Omar Khalid,…
People in Mogadishu have spoken out that wider corruption has overshadowed on the office responsible for providing the national identification cards to the citizens. Some of the people who have registered to obtain their ID Cards have explained a wicked stories of corruption and mismanagement that has spread into the corners of the offices which…
Be careful when you answer the phone, Raw Story warns through leaked documents that indicate that Americans are tracking and killing suspected terrorists via their mobile phones. That’s the message you might heed when considering National Security Operations and CIA operations in Yemen, Somalia and Afghanistan, according to a new report. According to documents and…
Odewayne, 12 Feb 2014 (SDN) –Sterling Energy has completed a second farm-in deal covering an onshore block in central Africa’s Somaliland. The company said it now has government approval for the second farm-in to acquire a total of 25% equity in a production-sharing contract (PSC) for the onshore Odewayne block. Last November Sterling completed the…
By: Tom Odula Nairobi, 12 Feb 2014 (SDN) –A Kenyan official says security agents are looking for a Somali national believed to be part of a terror group plotting an attack in Uganda. A senior security official, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak with the press, said Wednesday that…
London, 12 Feb 2014 (SDN) –A 22-year-old Somalian woman who claimed that she was wrongly prosecuted after fleeing to the UK to escape a civil war has lost a human rights compensation fight. The woman was charged with possessing a false identity document after flying into Stansted in December 2009 – and remanded in custody…
The central character in the story is a woman called Khadija, who would like to be a poet. In Somali culture, poetry is the domain of men and as a woman, Khadija’s daily life revolves around animal husbandry, child care and long journeys to fetch water. “You get a big audience for yourself if you…
By: Cameron Atfield Brisbane, 11 Feb 2014 (SDN) –The long wait for a Somali woman left horribly disfigured when she was shot in the face as a child is almost over. Ayaan Mohamed, now 25, suffered horrific facial injuries as a result of the attack during Somalia’s brutal civil war. In addition to cosmetic disfigurement,…
By John Campbell Mogadishu, 11 Feb 2014 (SDN) –In the last week of January news outlets reported that an American drone had conducted an unsuccessful strike against a high level al-Shabaab leader in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. Later reports stated that the target of the strike was Ahmed Abdi Godane, the presumed current…
Hargeisa, 11 Feb 2014 (SDN) –Somaliland’s oldest elder Haji Abdi Warabe on Monday intervened as what could have been a political turmoil and managed to diffuse tension in parliament related to a motion sponsored by the ruling party Kulmiye to vote out the opposition national party chairman Hon. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdilahi (Irro) from his position…
Bulo Burte, 11 Feb 2014 (SDN) –At least eight Al-Shabaab militants were killed and five injured after a car bomb they were making accidentally went off in the Somali town of Bulo-Burte, witnesses and officials said. The explosion was heard around Bulo Burte town, close to the main town of Beledewyne controlled by government forces…
HE IS in the running for best supporting actor at the Oscars after impressing with audiences and critics with his astonishing performance in Hollywood film Captain Phillips, but surprisingly Barkad Abdi’s new-found fame has seen him take a job in a phone shop. The 28-year-old Somali-born actor revealed he has to take the job at…