SNC Live Blog

A blast that hit troops escorting UN observers in Syria's south on Wednesday was "a graphic example of violence that the Syrian people do not need," said UN observer chief Major General Robert Mood.

The incident in the southern city of Deraa came a day after UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan warned that his peace plan could be the last chance to avoid civil war.

"It is imperative that violence in all its forms must stop," Mood was quoted by observer spokesman Neeraj Singh as saying.

Haitham al-Maleh, a veteran dissident, and several Kurdish delegates have walked out of the Syrian opposition's conference in Istanbul this evening, exposing political rifts in those opposed to Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Leading opposition figures met in Istanbul on the invitation of Turkey and Qatar, current chair of the Arab League, to seek a common front in their year-old uprising against Assad. 

Criticism of both the way the Syrian National Council, the main opposition umbrella group, was being run and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood was rife among the more than 300 dissidents gathered at a seaside hotel in Pendik, a suburb on the Asian side of the Turkish city.

While some SNC members have greeted the Syrian government's acceptance of Kofi Annan's peace plan with cautious optimism, however, others have disagreed. 

"He is buying time. It means more killing. He is playing games," said Adib Shishakly, an SNC member. "Every hour we are losing five people. So really, time is life."  

In an opening address to the meeting, Turkish foreign ministry official Halit Cevik said there was no alternative to Assad's regime going, and he extended support to the SNC as a platform for different strands of the opposition. 

Shortly afterwards, however, Haitham al-Maleh, a venerable opposition figure who was jailed by both Assad and his father, walked out of the hall after SNC President Burhan Ghalioun set out an action plan that called for greater unity. 

"I want to see the council act democratically. Until now, they are acting like the [ruling] Baath Party," Maleh, who withdrew from the SNC last month, told Reuters. 

Representatives of Syria's Kurds followed suit, saying the SNC had failed to explicitly address Kurdish hopes of having an autonomous federal region within a post-Assad Syria.  

"If we don't reach an agreement now, these issues will be more complicated after the regime," Abdulhakim Basar, of the Kurdish National Council, told Reuters. "Maybe we are afraid of an internal war between the Syrian factions, so we prefer to reach an agreement now to avoid this. Syria has to be for all Syrians without discrimination." 

Opposition disunity has fed fears that Syria could slide into sectarian and ethnic conflict, giving pause to governments which would otherwise be glad to see Assad's downfall. 

Turkey will host a "Friends of Syria" meeting of mostly Western and Arab foreign ministers on April 1 to try to agree measures to persuade Assad to call off his security forces, let in humanitarian aid and allow a political transition. 

Leading opposition figures will also attend. 

The splits among the opposition are unsurprising, given that political life in Syria has been dominated by 42 years of Assad family rule. 

Fearful that the meeting could collapse, the Turkish hosts persuaded the SNC's executive to accept calls for change, according to signatories of an agreement approving the restructuring of the SNC and changes in its key personnel. 

SNC chief Ghalioun, a Paris-based academic, said he would meet with all opposition blocs on Wednesday, after the official one-day conference is over. 

Ghalioun had earlier outlined an SNC action plan that included raising international backing and support for peaceful protests. It also proposed that it should help organise and arm the rebel Syrian Free Army, established by army defectors to resist Assad's forces, and raise money to pay recruits. 

Ghalioun also advocated the adoption of a "national oath", committing all the opposition to building a democratic state, without any agenda for revenge, and to seek reconciliation once Assad is removed. 

"The executive council will have to do something to show it is listening to people," said a diplomat observing the meeting. "There is a feeling it is not transparent or democratic enough." 

[Reuters]

Three prominent activists from the Syrian National Council (SNC), an opposition coalition, announced their resignations in statements posted on their Facebook pages on Wednesday.

An official with the SNC, contacted by AFP, confirmed that Catherine al-Telli, Haitham al-Maleh and Kamal al-Labwani had resigned due to "disagreements" with the council.

Maleh said he was quitting after the council's executive had rejected his efforts to reform and unite opposition ranks, complaining its head Burhan Ghalioun was "monopolising opinion".

"All avenues for change have been blocked," protested Labwani. Lack of unity within the SNC has been one of the main arguments of Western countries to justify their reluctance to arm the rebel forces fighting the Syrian regime which has been faced by a year-long revolt.

Libya will donate $100 million in humanitarian aid to the Syrian opposition and allow them to open an office in Tripoli, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, in a further sign of its strong support for forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad.

Representatives from the Syrian National Council (SNC) visited Tripoli this week after Mustafa Abdel, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), made the initial offer earlier this month to host an SNC office there.

Libya's new government was one of the first foreign states to recognise the SNC as the legitimate authority in Syria in October - a gesture it said showed solidarity following Libya's own struggle to oust Muammar Gaddafi and end 42 years of autocratic rule. [Reuters]