Clinton Urges Nations Trading with Syria to 'Get on Right Side of History'
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday urged countries to stop trading with Syria as she sought to step up the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to end a brutal crackdown on protesters.
"We urge those countries still buying Syrian oil and gas, those countries still sending Assad weapons, those countries whose political and economic support give him comfort in his brutality, to get on the right side of history," Clinton told reporters.
In an interview with CBS news on Thursday, the chief U.S. diplomat suggested that China and India impose energy sanctions on Syria while she urged Russia to stop selling arms to Damascus, which has bought arms from Moscow for decades.
She also urged the Europeans to impose energy sanctions.
"President Assad has lost the legitimacy to lead and it is clear that Syria would be better off without him," Clinton told a Washington press conference Friday alongside visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.
But Clinton stopped short of explicitly urging Assad to step down -- a call which U.S. officials have said President Barack Obama's administration has decided to make, although it has not finalized the timing.
Asked by CBS News why Washington had not already urged Assad to go, Clinton replied: "it’s important that it’s not just the American voice. And we want to make sure those voices are coming from around the world."
The United States is being careful to promote a broad international response "so that there will not be any temptation on the part of anyone inside the Assad regime to claim that it's only the United States" or the West leading the campaign against Damascus, she said Friday, adding: "Indeed, it's the entire world."
Clinton also said U.S. ambassador to Damascus, Robert Ford, delivered a "clear message" to the Syrian government, alluding to his meeting Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
"Immediately stop the violence, withdraw your security forces, respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people for a democratic transition in concrete and meaningful ways," she said, reading out the message.
Source: Agence France Presse
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