| US-based Syrian
opposition party sets up Damascus office BEIRUT
- The US-based Reform Party of Syria (RPS) announced on Friday the opening of an office in
Damascus to bolster democracy and said it expects the authorities there to confront it
with "oppressive tactics".
A statement posted on the RPS Internet site said the party is "formally announcing
the inauguration of its first local office inside Syria to be called Reform Party of Syria
in Syria (RPSS)".
"RPS expects the regime of (Syrian President Bashar) al-Assad to respond to this
challenge by engaging in oppressive tactics," the statement said.
"RPS will be ready to meet the government's challenge," it added.
The announcement was made in Washington by Farid al-Ghadri, the president of the small
Syrian opposition movement, in presence of Syrian dissident Nabil Fayyad.
Fayyad is described as "an intellectual who will have party responsibilities to
develop the structure, with other reformers", the statement said.
According to Ghadri the creation of an office in Syria will "fill a political
vacuum" in the country.
Members of the RPS, which is demanding a regime change in Syria, met in March with US
State Department officials.
The group has no grassroots support in Syria, where opposition figures have criticised it
for keeping close ties with conservatives in the US administration. |
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