Damascus-based Syrian opposition representatives Abdelaziz Khayer (C) and Hassan Abdelazeem (L) are escorted into a taxi after Syrian opposition activists residing in Egypt threw eggs on them and their comrades for being "traitors bought by the regime", outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on 9 November 2011. (Photo: AFP - Khaled Desouki)
There is a widely held view that a main reason the Syrian regime has lasted as long as it has is divisions among Syrian opposition itself. The incident where Syrian dissidents assaulted opposition figures in front of the Arab League headquarters in Cairo last Wednesday reflected those deep divides.
Last Saturday, Arab foreign ministers issued a call for a meeting with Syrian opposition groups at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo in three days to agree on a unified vision for the coming transitional period. The opposition would later meet with Arab foreign ministers who will look into the results of this meeting and take the appropriate decision regarding recognition of the Syrian opposition.
The meeting that will be held in Cairo this coming Tuesday is likely to include most of the opposition, at least from the SNC and NCC, opposition figure Haitham Manna told al-Akhbar. The problems are both personal and political with major disagreements revolving around the nature of the desired political change, the path needed to get there, and the shape the next phase will take.
Manna summarized what is expected from the Cairo meeting in two main points. The first is to put an end to mutual accusations of betrayal and attempts by opposition groups to outdo each other. This includes framing differences in a more responsible discourse based on equal relations between all groups. The second major point is to agree on a unified political program.
The main point of contention within the opposition is foreign intervention. Who is more representative of the Syrian uprising and who is more qualified to speak in its name? Is it the opposition inside Syria or the opposition outside whose slogans are raised by protests on Friday.
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| Michel Kilo |
They say the divisions could raise slogans against specific opposition figures or, more dangerously, by a creeping sense of despair at the possibility of achieving political success, which would lead protesters to abandon their non-violent struggle in favor of a militarized option.
A New Coalition
Arab officials who are set to meet with the Syrian opposition in Cairo on Tuesday have to untangle intractable knots within the ranks of the opposition. The goal is to reach an agreement on the general principles of a new opposition alliance or coalition, making it possible for Arab and world governments to recognize it and deal with it as a representative body of the Syrian people instead of the current regime.
Some thought that organizing the opposition within two large blocs – the Syrian National Council (SNC) and the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC) – might help establish a meaningful dialogue between the two sides away from mutual distrust and recrimination.
But reality has proven otherwise. Creating the SNC and the NCC only deepened those differences instead of bridging them. It even created new personal and political problems within each bloc as evidenced by the defections, withdrawals, and emerging disagreements – some public and others hidden – between the two opposition groups.
The SNC had accused the NCC that it is not serious about toppling the regime but wants instead to engage the regime in dialogue in return for a share in power.
Many Syrians and Arabs keen to unite the Syrian opposition tried to bring disparate groups together but to no avail. The problems are both personal and political with major disagreements revolving around the nature of the desired political change, the path needed to get there, and the shape the next phase will take.
In addition, the history of each opposition figure is scrutinized and his opposition credentials judged. Members of the opposition that have ties with foreign countries or with parties close to the regime are exposed and condemned. Add to this tales about moral and financial scandals, accusations of political patronage, and rumors of dividing up the spoils of the future government.
Manna believes that this coalition will probably be formed and its name will not really matter, “even though we are sensitive to the terms ‘council’ and ‘transitional’ because they remind us of the Libyan experiment which we do not wish to project onto Syria.”
Manna said that the NCC delegation in Doha and independent figures will take part in Tuesday’s meeting “in a positive and open-minded way as usual.”
He also revealed that leaders from the SNC went to Egypt and they too will participate in the Arab League meeting on Tuesday.
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| Head of "Building the Syrian State" Party Louai Hussein said that the AL decisions aim at internationalizing the situation in Syria, |
The SNC had accused the NCC that it is not serious about toppling the regime but wants instead to engage the regime in dialogue in return for a share in power. The NCC has yet to convince the SNC that they fully support toppling the regime.
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| Alain Juppé, Burhan Ghalioun.French recognition of the Syrian National Council is being considered |
In the end, it looks like everyone has reached the moment of truth since opposition unity has become an Arab and international requirement that might be imposed “through a real democratic dialogue,” Manna said.
Manna emphasized the importance of having everyone equally represented “in accordance with their real representative power” inside the framework of the new united opposition to avoid “a repetition of the Tunisian experience where none of the real revolutionaries won the elections.”
Politically speaking, Manna said that the NCC will not compromise on its principled and firm opposition to foreign military intervention in Syria and “since the SNC’s official leadership is not requesting foreign military intervention, then we invite them to work together without any of us excluding or swallowing the other.”
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
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