This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Thursday 10 Sep 2015 - 14:01 Makkah mean time-26-11-1436
Photo: Anadolu Agency
London (IINA) – UK's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Wednesday that Britain could accept Syrian President Bashar al-Assad staying in place for a transition period if it helped resolve the country's conflict, Reuters reported.
Hammond told parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee that a political rather than military solution was needed and said Britain had made clear to Russia and Iran, Assad's principal international allies, that it would be prepared to discuss a plan which saw him stay on temporarily.
"If there is a sensible plan for transition that involves Assad remaining in some way involved in the process for a period of time we will look at that, we will discuss it. We are not saying he must go on day one," he said, adding that the transition could be a period of months.
Hammond rejected Russia's suggestion Syria could hold snap parliamentary elections which could see Assad share power.
"That is not an acceptable position. The international community cannot in my view facilitate and oversee a set of elections in which somebody guilty of crimes of the scale that Assad has committed is able to run for office," he said.
Britain will not be able to help reach a political solution by "talking nicely" to the different players in Syria, Hammond added, calling on Russia and Iran use their influence on Assad.
British media reported Britain had not changed its view that Assad should not be a part of Syria's long-term future.
AB/IINA
|
No comments:
Post a Comment