Syria's Baath to Hold 11th Congress in February
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syria's ruling Baath party said Tuesday that it will hold its 11th party congress next month as it faces an unprecedented popular uprising demanding its leadership resign.
"The regional command of the Baath Arab Socialist Party has decided to hold its 11th regional congress during the first week of February," the official Al-Baath newspaper reported.
The congress, the first for the Baath party since June 2005, comes after the Syrian authorities delayed indefinitely "free" parliamentary elections that were also planned for February.
The announcement came on the same day that French President Nicolas Sarkozy demanded his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad step down for overseeing a "disgusting" crackdown on dissent.
It also comes with the Assad government trying to prove to Arab states that it is implementing a peace accord to end the crackdown on a pro-reform protest movement that has since turned against his rule.
In response to the protests that erupted in mid-March, Assad has announced a series of reforms, including the appointment of a committee in October to draft a new constitution.
The Baath party, in power since 1963, is declared as the "leader of the state and society" under the current charter.
Among other reforms Assad has promised are free elections and limiting the number of terms that a president can serve.
In April, Assad issued decrees to lift the state of emergency in force since 1963, abolish the State Security Court and authorizing peaceful demonstrations under certain conditions
However, Western governments and human rights groups accuse his government of continuing the crackdown which the United Nations estimates has killed more than 5,000 people since March.
03 January 2012, 16:39
01
There will not be a 12th that is for sure. What is this map on their logo? Are they trying to control the entire middle east?
03 January 2012, 17:56
00
Gabby the Baath is pan-Arabist a party they don't believe in borders that's why Hafez and then Jr never respect the Lebanon Syrian one, for them Lebanon does not exist.
03 January 2012, 18:39
10
If you could read Arabic, or if you knew ANYTHING about Syria, you would know that Arab nationalism, aka one Arab nation, is the ideology of the Arab Socialist Ba`th Party. It's not about controlling the Middle East, but rather uniting all Arabs of all colors and religions.
03 January 2012, 20:08
00
The bath is the only secular party in the levant.
Its doctrine is nationalist and socialist.It respect all religions that the reasons minorities in the levant find it a suitable party to join.
03 January 2012, 23:09
00
Here is the party of wilayat al Wariith, the twin of wilayat al faqih except that it is a family concern.
In both cases no need for congresses. Besides, it is a bit too late for keeping up appearances
04 January 2012, 04:16
01
@Murad: What happened to the founder of this sign? Since he ran away with his family to Lebanon, why did he disappear? is that part of the Arab nationalism that you speak of, aka either the Baath way or the highway (i.e. Assassinate/kill and eliminate. Let me break it to you the current Baathist have nothing to do with uniting Arabs but rather acting exactly as the Zionist regime, divide and conquer.
04 January 2012, 08:49
00
Nice try Murad. Look what's going on now and since the beginning. You don't build a Risala Khalida on violence! And don't tell me that it's the foreign power's fault!
Anyway this congress must be the time to get rid of all those bloody baassists once and for all!
BYE!
