Syria Opposition Planning Post-Assad Transition in Berlin

Up to 50 members of the Syrian opposition are working in Berlin on plans for a political transition after a possible ouster of President Bashar Assad, a German think tank backing them said Wednesday.

The respected German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) confirmed a media report that it was working with the group of former generals, economists and legal experts on what could become a new constitution.

A SWP spokesman said the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace had initiated the project and that it included Syrians from all the country's religious groups and both women and men.

Some joined the discussion remotely over the Internet.

He said the participants had been selected by the Syrian National Council opposition alliance and other groups in Syria and that the draft constitution is to be published in early August.

SWP director Volker Perthes told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the document could serve as a foundation for political debate after a possible fall of the Assad government.

"We gave the opposition an opportunity to create a community for discussion without being observed or put under pressure," Perthes said in a separate interview with the weekly Die Zeit to be published Thursday.

The group is also looking at ways of reforming the army, justice system and security apparatus as well as restructuring the economy and reconciling the country's religious groups.

The Syrian National Council has insisted it would not accept a unity government led by a member of the regime and said recently that the uprising was "about to achieve victory against the murderous junta in power."