Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al- Moallem said Wednesday the recent crisis erupted between his country and the United States and France over protesters’ attack on the two’s embassies, would be solved within the framework of the Vienna Conventions.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al- Moallem said Wednesday the recent crisis erupted between his country and the United States and France over protesters’ attack on the two’s embassies, would be solved within the framework of the Vienna Conventions.
“I believe that demonstrators shouldn’t bypass the boundaries of the two embassies,” Moallem told a joint press conference with the Arab League (AL) chief Nabil el-Arabi.
“Whoever did that was wrong … They (the embassies) shouldn’t be bypassed,” he said, adding that an expression of protest is “legitimate but in a peaceful way.”
He reasserted that the Syrian government is responsible for protecting the embassies and their staffs, saying “and we bear full responsibility for that.”
Al-Moallem, meanwhile, said diplomats should obtain prior permission before heading to restive areas so that the government could be able to protect their security.
Hundreds of Syrian government supporters attacked the U.S. embassy on Monday, smashing windows and painting graffiti that called the U.S. ambassador a “dog.” Similar demonstration was held in front of the French embassy and its guards fired in the air to disperse them.
The move by the protestors came after the unauthorized and controversial visit by the U.S. and French ambassadors to the violence-hit city of Hama on Friday to follow up the anti- government protests there.
Besides, Al-Moallem said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier in the day held “serious and constructive” talks with el- Arabi, who is on a one-day visit to Syria as part of an Arab tour starting with Saudi Arabia to coordinate stands with major Arab capitals and to present the AL plan during his tenure.
According to the foreign minister, Assad informed el-Arabi Syria’s reforms that have already started since last month. El- Arabi had said ahead of the trip that persuading Syria to accelerate reforms will top his agenda.
El-Arabi will leave Syria for Qatar to attend the meetings of the follow-up Arab committee.
Back on Syrian-U.S. ties, Moallem said contacts between Syria and the United States did not stop, adding that he received a day earlier a telephone call from the U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns.
El-Arabi, for his part, said the AL doesn’t tolerate any foreign interference in the internal affairs of any country, adding that stability in any Arab country, including Syria, is important for the stability of the entire region.
He said nobody has the right to say that the president of any country has lost his legitimacy. “This issue is exclusively decided by the people itself,” a reference to recent U.S. statement stating that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost his legitimacy.
El-Arabi said his talks with Assad covered situation in Syria and in the region, and the winds of changes sweeping Arab countries, adding that president Assad has assured him that “Syria has entered a new era and is now moving on the road of a genuine reform.”
