By Abdullah Ghadawi
(Zaman Al Wasl)- Former Secretary-General of the opposition's Syrian National Coalition said a joint committee of the Syrian Interim Prime Minister and al-Shamiyah Front to re-evaluate the status of Bab al-Salameh crossing, expecting there will be a new direction to open Bab al-Hawa border crossing and hand it over.
Abdul AIlah Fahd in his interview with Zaman al-Wasl hinted at the possibility of early elections in the presidency of the coalition, but he said that the important part is not the elections, but in finding a personality that believes in institutional collective action.
Fahd considered that the reform project of the president of Coalition Riad Saif is progressing slowly, while the stage requires more dynamics, explaining that the decision to engage factions in the coalition took s long time.
Z: Coalition today is absent from the scene, What is (SNC) doing?
F: Currently, there is no development within the coalition at the administrative or organizational level. Political work has no role as the High Committee for Negotiations is the one that advances the political scene through the Geneva consultations, but in this period, it is expected that the coalition will have a role in a political work that has a broad participation of all blocs and spectra.
Z: How do you see the work of the coalition presidency after the launch of a reform project?
A: In the beginning, there was no clear project for the presidency of the coalition, and the ambition of the President of the coalition Riyad Saif was great, and nothing was achieved from this project. We can say the reform project was very slow and there were hesitations in taking many decisions.
Z: What kind of decisions?
A: Like the project to re-engage factions in the coalition which took a long time and many other decisions.
Z: What about the representation of factions in the coalition?
A: At the last meeting of the General Secretariat, the participation of the factions in the coalition was voted on, and at the next meeting of the Secretariat on November 8, the representation of the factions will be discussed. But what happened was that the Syrian Interim Government reshuffled the Ministry of Defense and the Staff, and therefore the entry of factions, which are 15 factions and they must go through the General Staff.
Z: What is the role of the coalition supposed to be?
A:The coalition in its establishment was the most convincing representative for the states, and in fact its role is all the roles played by other parties, in the sense that the work of the coalition originally is the work of the High Committee for Negotiations and the work of factions, but when the states saw that the coalition does not show flexibility in terms of the political solution, the other institutions were founded. World states wanted the coalition to make decisions according to what fit them.
The High Committee for Negotiations and Astana emerged, but originally, the coalition should have been the one performing all these roles even now the coalition is the link between all these formations, but politically it has no role.
Z: Do not you think that the exaggerations of criticizing the coalition are unfair and unjust?
A: The truth is that there is an exaggeration. On the political course, it is impossible to deny that the coalition is politically deficient, but the bulk of the political side is the responsibility of the International Community.
On the internal Syrian local level, the coalition has erred in this area. It has not built institutions at home, or at least follow-up committees with the local councils, which are the link between the coalition and the revolutionary forces in Syria.
-Early Elections-
Z: There is talk about early elections in the coalition. Do you think they are useful now?
A: The president of the coalition said at the beginning of his presidency that he came for a reform project, and will leave when this project ends, but to date these ambitions have not been achieved, and there may be early elections.
Z: Are you with these early elections?
A: Whoever the person is who will lead the coalition, it is important to work collectively and this is what builds the coalition.
Z: The step to hand over the crossing to the Interim Government raised the morale of Syrians to a certain extent, who contributed to this?
A: The effort is made by the Shamiya Front and the Syrian Interim Government, and there was long work and consultations with the Turkish government, and the coalition had no role in this matter.
Z: What is the importance of opening the crossing?
A: There is a significant value in opening the crossing as well as economic value in the long run. The government has established a special administration for the crossings, and it is expected that there will also be work in the direction of the Bab al-Hawa crossing.
Z: What comes after the opening of the crossing?
A: There will be a joint committee of the Interim Government and the Shamiya Front to study the status of the crossing and establish an organizational structure for the administration and organize its work in the near future.
Zaman A Wasl
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.