Syria holds national dialogue conference
Syria will on Monday begin a two-day national dialogue conference, a member of the organizing committee told AFP, months after an Islamist-led coalition ousted Bashar al-Assad.
The conference "will begin Monday afternoon and continue Tuesday", said Hind Kabawat, one of seven organizers preparing the event which aims to represent all Syrians and conclude with recommendations on how to govern the conflict-torn country.
Syria's new authorities had formed earlier in February the organizing committee made up of seven people, including two women, to prepare the conference.
During a press conference Sunday, reported by state news agency SANA, two members of the committee said they had held meetings in several Syrian provinces with a total of 4,000 participants who weighed in on the country's future governance.
The conference will focus on "transitional justice, the constitution, institutional and economic reform, Syria's territorial unity as well as public, individual and political liberties", the committee members said.
Recommendations will be issued at the conclusion of the conference, "which will serve as the basis for the constitutional declaration, the economic identity (of the country) and the plan to reform institutions", the committee said.
The conference marks "the final stage in a long national process requiring sustained collective work to construct a new Syrian national identity that preserves civil peace and realizes the aspirations of the Syrian people", the committee added.
According to a program shared by some invitees, the conference will begin with a day of introductory meetings followed by workshops on Tuesday in smaller groups to discuss six key issues.
Some Syrians living abroad who were invited to attend said they could not due to the short notice given to them.
A coalition led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized power on December 8, with the group's leader Ahmed al-Sharaa named interim president in January.
An interim government has been charged with managing affairs until March 1, when a new government is set to be formed, reflecting "the diversity" of the population, according to the new authorities.
The autonomous Kurdish administration in northeast Syria said in a statement that its leaders fear the national dialogue steering committee represented only "a single political and ideological strain, which undermines the principle of fair and inclusive representation for all parts of the Syrian people."
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://mobile.naharnet.com/stories/en/311186 |