Tunis/Beirut (dpa) – Western and Arab countries were expected to demand an immediate ceasefire in Syria and humanitarian access to areas ravaged by weeks of regime bombardments at a Friends of Syria conference in Tunisia later Friday. Ministers and senior officials from more than 60 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, GermanyTurkey and Egypt, are attending the meeting. Notable absences include Russia and China, who have blocked two United Nations resolutions condemning Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on an 11-month uprising. The Friends of Syria group is modeled on the contact group of countries that supported the rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi's regime last year. Unlike Libya, however, the prospects of a military intervention to end Assad's brutal crackdown on an 11-month uprising against his rule are seen as slim. Instead, the focus of the conference is expected to be on the humanitarian crisis in the city of Homs, where bodies lay trapped under rubble after three weeks of bombardments, and in parts of Idlib province. Government forces continued shelling the dissident Homs district of Baba Amr Friday. Troops backed by tanks also raided areas near the capital Damascus ahead of weekly Friday anti-regime protests planned after noon prayer, opposition activists said. The International Committee of the Red Cross has called for a daily two-hour ceasefire so that it can deliver emergency aid and reach the wounded. Among those requiring urgent medical attention is a French reporter Edith Bouvier who suffered a broken leg in a government attack on Homs Wednesday that killed a British and a French journalist. Bouvier appealed in a video posted online Thursday for an emergency evacuation to Lebanon. On the eve of the conference, the UN and Arab League appointed former UN secretary general Kofi Annan as an envoy to Syria to try negotiate a ceasefire. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the conference would push for progress on three fronts: “providing humanitarian relief, increasing pressure on the regime, and preparing for a democratic transition.” The West sees the opposition Syrian National Council as the best hope for leading such a transition. The conference is expected to recognize the SNC as a legitimate representative of the people, but stop short of endorsing it as a government-in-waiting. The SNC's Naji Tayyara told dpa the council would also appeal for the establishment of humanitarian corridors – or safe zones – in some of the areas worst-hit by the fighting. Russia has ruled out such a move, on the grounds that it might require military intervention. On Thursday French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said there was no military option on the table. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/lci0C Tags: Aid, Conference, Humanitarian, Tunis, Violence Section: Latest News, Syria, Tunisia
