Brussels, 23/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Foreign Affairs Council of Monday 27 February is expected to freeze the assets of and impose a visa ban on seven Syrian ministers, a European diplomat announced on Thursday 23 February (see EUROPE 10559).
At the Council meeting on 27 February and also at the Friends of Syria conference in Tunis on Friday 24, the EU and its partners will discuss humanitarian aid. A high-ranking US representative announced that a plan to provide humanitarian aid in the coming days would be put forward in Tunis, underlining that the Syrian regime would be defied to respond.
A highly placed EU official revealed that discussions on a ceasefire of a few hours were at an advanced stage. “That is what we are talking about”, he said, adding that, because of Syria's geographical location, specialist organisations had doubts over the feasibility of the plan for a humanitarian corridor, which is supported by France.
“The Tunis conference will be the opportunity to put in place international humanitarian aid and to move forward with options on providing access for this aid”, said French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé. On Wednesday, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton called on the Syrian authorities to “allow full and unimpeded access of relief personnel from international humanitarian organisations for the timely delivery of humanitarian aid to persons in need of assistance”. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked his Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos to travel to Syria, as soon as permission is received from Damascus, to assess the humanitarian situation and to carry the UN demand for emergency humanitarian access. On Thursday, a European diplomat repeated that military action was “not being considered for the moment”. On Wednesday, the Syrian National Council said that foreign military intervention might be the “only way” to end the “massacre”. “The choice is between two evils: military intervention or civil war”, it said.
The UN High Commission for Human Rights is believed to hold a confidential list of high-ranking politicians and soldiers suspected of involvement in crimes against humanity. Human rights abuses by groups from the free Syrian Army have also been identified. (CG/transl.rt)