A call for reform
It is now close to two months since the first protests broke out in the city of Daraa in Syria.
A rapid unravelling of the situation following the government’s violent crackdown on protesters has invariably placed President Bashar Al Assad facing the biggest challenge to his regime. Grappling to regain control, the government has chosen force to quell the trouble but to no avail. As a result despite the large number of deaths and arrests, the protests are continuing with the opposition having put the call out for a countrywide general strike.
The situation does warrant more than the cursory warnings issued to Damascus or the sanctions imposed recently on some of President Al Assad’s close allies in government. This is probably why US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the EU Special Representative Baroness Catherine Ashton in a recent meeting called on the Syrian government to implement the promised reforms on an immediate basis or face the consequences. What these may be has not been spelled out but it will clearly be more sanctions. Whether the threat of sanctions at this point contain enough bite to soften the government’s position is the question. The regime is currently fighting an existential threat and is likely to focus attention on putting an end to the unrest.
Another remedial measure being considered is the UN Resolution condemning Syria. Expected to be put up for vote in front of the Security Council, the Resolution — if it obtains majority vote —will serve a reminder to Syria of its isolated position. The rising crescendo of the Syrian government’s atrocities, including conflicting reports of a mass grave in Daraa, have only strengthened the impression of brutality by a repressive regime. Unfortunately, if the government had shown political maturity and not used force at the start of the protests, things might not have deteriorated to this extent.
The government continues to blame the Islamists and foreign elements for supporting the anti-regime movement. Earlier conciliatory moves by Al Assad to lift the decades old emergency among other socio-economic measures aimed at appeasing the people are now felt to have been misread as a sign of weakness. As a result the authorities decided on a U-turn in policy by sending in tanks and security forces to curb the protests.
Irrespective of what went wrong where, Al Assad should not lose the chance he may still have and formulate a strategy where political dialogue is launched with the estranged factions. A resort to strong arm tactics is not the way to rule people whose hearts need to be won by fulfilling their just rights and aspirations.
Another defection from Tripoli
Tripoli’s powerbase is collapsing. The defection of oil minister Shukri Ghanem is the third severe blow to come for the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
The fact that foreign minister Moussa Koussa and now Ghanem thought it appropriate to abandon their country and their mandate under oath in an unprofessional and irrational manner is utterly disappointing. The modus operandi, nonetheless, speaks of the reign of terror that senior officials and public office-holders fear on the Libyan soil for reasons of political differences or dissent. But the fact is that the uprising now well into its third month has badly rented the socio-political fabric of Libya — and has come at the cost of destruction and dispossession of its own people. Irrespective of what agenda or reason the incumbent high-profile defectors may have had in person, it has inevitably furthered the perspective that the men speaking on behalf of Tripoli might not be trustworthy, thus making any policy prescription from the embattled leader to the world at large highly suspicious.
This is, indeed, a moment of truth for Gaddafi. It’s high time he realised the unavoidable fact that power and glory of yesteryears is slipping under his feet. The proud North African Arab country literally stands truncated, and its geopolitical polity is divisive. It has turned out to be a lawless country where the writ of his government is withering, and the nation is living under the shadows of aggression. The prevailing political discord hints at more trouble to come, and Ghanem is not likely to be the last one to jump out of the sinking Al Aziza ship. The rebels who rule the roost in the east of the country, and now even possess diplomatic recognition to a great extent, have further marginalised the role of state and government. The freedom with which Libya’s national treasure — oil — is being sold in black market by the rebels, and the inability of Tripoli to assert itself is pushing the polity at the brink of disaster.
We have been here. Something serious is in need of being done. The United Nations mandate, to enforce peace and tranquility in the country, has been taken for a ride by the NATO, and a mockery has been made of it. Libya and its inhabitants are in need of a new social contract, wherein the reigning civil commotion is brought to an end, and the dictator is persuaded to step down. A dialogue to initiate the process of nation building cannot be delayed any further.
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