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Syria's political oppositions meet in Cairo to discuss future roadmap

Xinhua, June 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Syria's opposition factions met Monday in Cairo to search for plans to end the four-year old civil war in their home country.

Around 150 Syrian opposition figures gathered at a Cairo hotel for the meeting in a bid to end bloodshed in the Arab country that left thousands of people killed and millions more displaced.

Opposition figure Habib Haddad, also head of the Syrian National Democratic Bloc, told Xinhua that the meeting is set to aim at drawing a roadmap for a transitional period that would in the end lead to "a new Syria."

He also said the current leadership in Damascus must be replaced with a new democratic government that does not distinguish between the Syrians according to their races, religions or beliefs.

The two-day meeting was sponsored by the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, a civil society organization.

The opening session of Monday's conference was also attended by Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby and speaker of Arab Inter-parliamentary Union Ahmed al-Jarwan.

Earlier this year, Egypt also hosted a similar meeting attended by the Syrian opposition parties so as to coordinate their stances.

Al-Araby told Monday's meeting that the worsening Syrian crisis makes it a must for all sides to review the policies taken to handle the issue.

He urged all influential and concerned sides to shoulder their political and historical responsibility to save Syria and its people.

For his part, Egyptian foreign minister Shoukry said the international community has been unable so far to reach an agreement on a feasible formula to reach a political settlement in Syria.

He pointed out that this meeting is meant to support Syria and the legitimate aspirations of its people who hope for a serious change and a democratic state.

Since 2011, tens of thousands of Syrians have been killed and millions others displaced in the bloody conflict that started in the form of peaceful protests calling for the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and ended up as a civil war. Endit