Syria Today: A “Transition Roadmap” from the Opposition For “National Reconciliation”
EAworldview – Scott Lucas – 14.8.2013 – Opposition activists, including some members of the National Coalition, are declaring that they will issue a “transitional roadmap” on Wednesday for political resolution and justice.
“National reconciliation will be achieved through a long transitional justice process in which justice is assured for all of Syria’s victims,” the activists said in a statement. The proposals call for a “hybrid presidential/parliamentary system”, with a new Constitution based on a predecessor from 1950. Syrian security forces will be restructured to uproot “corrupt officials”, and “all armed groups” will be disarmed and demobilized to reintegrate them into society. All Syrian groups will be accepted and protected: “There is no place for the policies of revenge or retaliation.”
The group behind the proposal, Syrian Expert House, includes about 300 activists, lawyers, and members of the National Coalition and Syrian National Council. The roadmap is to be presented in full on Wednesday, in the presence of Coalition head Ahmad Asi al-Jarba, but has not been officially endorsed by the key opposition group.
How far the roadmap will progress is uncertain, however. The Coalition and insurgent factions have not endorsed the initiative, and there is no indication how it will be accepted by or imposed upon the Assad regime.