French President Nicolas Sarkozy wound up a two-day visit to Syria yesterday with a four-way summit including Turkey and Qatar aimed at boosting the roles of France and the EU in Middle East diplomacy.
Sarkozy, whose country holds the revolving EU presidency, hopes that France and the EU can rank alongside the US as peacemakers, notably between Israel and Syria.
At the start of his visit on Wednesday Sarkozy held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who told reporters afterwards: “We have asked France to play a role in the indirect talks with Israel. Indirect talks is the only way now.”
“We are in the process of building foundations for the peace talks. After that we can talk about direct negotiations, which require the United States and other parties,” he said.
Assad said they also discussed the West’s confrontation with Tehran over the Islamic republic’s controversial nuclear program.
“It’s clear that there is no trust between Iran and other involved parties when it comes to this issue. Failure in solving the issues means catastrophe,” the Syrian leader said.
Sarkozy said he had sought Assad’s support in the standoff with Syria’s regional ally.
“I told the president that Syria can play a role in the Iranian issue. Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon but it has the right to have nuclear energy for peaceful use,” he said.
Sarkozy flew in to Damascus and went straight to the presidential palace for talks with Assad ahead of yesterday’s four-way summit.
He offered French help in the peace process, saying that “France is engaged in the service of peace in the Middle East.”
The French president is the first Western head of state to visit since the murder of Lebanese president Rafik Hariri in a 2005 bombing in Beirut that was widely blamed on Damascus.
Syria has hailed the French president’s visit as an acknowledgement of the central role Damascus plays in the Middle East peace process.
“Today there is a new era between Syria and France based on France’s new policy, a realistic, pragmatic policy that is aimed at achieving peace and that calls for dialogue,” Assad told French television on Tuesday.
Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, broke off high-level contact with Syria over the assassination of Hariri, who was a personal friend.
It was only six weeks ago that Assad returned to the international fold with a visit to Paris for talks with the new French president.
“As I told President Bashar al-Assad when he came to Paris on July 12, the path of peace in this region passes through our countries,” Sarkozy told Syria’s Al-Watan daily ahead of Wednesday’s visit.
“Syria can provide an irreplaceable contribution to solving Middle East issues. It is important that Syria plays a positive role in the region,” he said.
Yesterday, Sarkozy was to join a four-way summit on the peace process with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
Turkey has been brokering indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria and a fifth round of talks is expected to be held in Ankara on Sunday.
Syria has said that ultimately only the US has the clout to sponsor direct peace talks and that that must await the inauguration of a new US president next year.
But it has been keen in the meantime to win greater international support for the preliminary negotiations already under way.
However the prospect of a bigger EU role in its peace negotiations with Syria drew little enthusiasm from Israel, which insisted there had to be a serious change in policy from Damascus if the process was to make progress.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
MILITARY’S MAN: Myint Swe was diagnosed with neurological disorders and peripheral neuropathy disease, and had authorized another to perform his duties Myint Swe, who became Myanmar’s acting president under controversial circumstances after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi more than four years ago, died yesterday, the military said. He was 74. He died at a military hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, in the morning, Myanmar’s military information office said in a statement. Myint Swe’s death came more than a year after he stopped carrying out his presidential duties after he was publicly reported to be ailing. His funeral is to be held at the state level, but the date had not been disclosed, a separate statement from the
RSS