Local Editor
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was certain there would be no peaceful solution in Syria if President Bashar al-Assad runs for 2014 presidential elections.
Kerry remarks came as he met separately with Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiyah and with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, responding to reports that Assad intends to run for re-election next year.
“Now I don’t know anyone who believes the opposition will ever consent to Bashar al-Assad being part of that [transitional] government”, Kerry said. “And if he (Assad) thinks he’s going to solve problems by running for re-election I can say to him, I think with certainty, this war will not end as long as that’s the case or he [Assad] is there”.
Kerry travels to London Tuesday for a meeting with other core members of the so-called Friends of Syria and the Syrian opposition.
The talks come as efforts continue to convene a long-sought Syrian peace conference that would bring together Syria’s government and the opposition with a goal of negotiating a political settlement to the country’s crisis.
Kerry called the need for such a conference urgent.
“There are more and more refugees, more and more displaced people, more and more destruction and the potential for the absolute implosion of the state of Syria is what lies in front of everybody if there cannot be a negotiated solution”, the US top diplomat added.
Source: Al Manar
