Assad's foes meet for makeover

Doha, Nov 5: The opposition Syrian National Council begins a four-day meeting in Doha on Sunday, where the United States will reportedly press for an overhaul of the coalition aiming to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

Details have emerged of plans to reshape the opposition into a representative government-in-exile, after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton charged that the SNC was not representative.

Washington is pressing for a makeover of the opposition, with long-time dissident Riad Seif reportedly touted as the potential head of a new government-in-exile dubbed the Syrian National Initiative.

Seif and about two dozen other leading opposition figures gathered in Amman on Thursday and came up with proposals for a new body to represent the disparate groups opposing Assad.

Among those in attendance were some SNC members, former premier Riad Hijab, who defected in August; Ali Sadreddin Bayanuni of the Muslim Brotherhood and Kurdish and tribal representatives, participants said. Participants sought to quell concerns the overhaul is aimed at building an opposition that would be willing to negotiate with Assad.

"Assad and his entourage leaving power is a non-negotiable precondition for any dialogue aimed at finding a non-military solution, if that is still possible," they said in a statement.

The Amman meeting also supported "efforts underway to put in place a unified political body for the whole of the opposition," according to the statement.

Hijab's spokesman, Mohammed al-Otri, said the group was proposing "the creation of a new political organ of the opposition, representing all of its components."

He said the new body would include the 14 members of the SNC executive, three members of the Kurdish National Council, representatives of on-the-ground activists and fighters, longstanding dissidents and religious leaders.

"It remains to be decided whether this body will replace the SNC or will constitute a new coalition," Otri said, adding that the creation of the group "will certainly lead to the formation of a government" in exile.

In a separate statement, Bayanuni underlined the Brotherhood's support for "the idea of a political leadership to bring together the opposition" including the SNC.

But he said the Brotherhood supported maintaining the SNC, in which it holds significant influence, and "not replacing it with a new body."