French president accuses Syrian regime of massacres

AS THE Arab League announced an emergency meeting to discuss whether to withdraw monitors from Syria, French president Nicolas Sarkozy accused the regime of massacres.

The French president called on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to resign, and said the regime’s crackdown had produced disgust around the world. Mr Sarkozy added that the Syrian people should determine their future.

“The conditions in which the observer mission is taking place need to be clarified,” said French foreign minister Alain Juppé. “Does it really have completely free access to information? We await the report that it will submit in coming days to see more clearly.”

While the league’s meeting – scheduled for Saturday – will review the report, the final decision on the observers’ mission will be taken later. There are 70 monitors in Syria and an additional 30 are due to arrive tomorrow. They have been dispatched to oversee compliance with the league’s peace plan which calls for an end to violence by all sides, withdrawal of troops from urban areas and release of prisoners.

While the government has partially complied, at least 170 people have been killed since the monitors began work on December 27th.

Opposition groups have been critical of the observers who, they say, are not acting independently.

Anti-regime activists report four to five killed, while the government said saboteurs had blown up a gas pipeline that supplies two power stations near Homs. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is reporting that army defectors have killed 18 loyalist troops in Deraa province.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, voters massed at polling stations in nine provinces in the final round of the first parliamentary poll.

Some 14 million voters were eligible to cast ballots yesterday and today for 150 seats in the 498-seat assembly. Muslim fundamentalist candidates are expected to secure more than two-thirds of seats, as they have done in the first two rounds. The main contest is between the mainstream Muslim Brotherhood and ultra-orthodox Salafis.

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, accused of “tyrannical rule” by the prosecutor, was wheeled into court on a gurney on Monday to face charges of killing protesters during the uprising and corruption.

The trial was adjourned until today when the panel of judges will consider a defence motion to prosecute the two cases separately.

Brotherhood deputy head Rashad Bayoumi said that the movement, set to win the largest number of seats in parliament, intends to call for a referendum on the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

“We will not recognise Israel under any circumstances. We are talking about an occupation entity and a criminal entity. There is no condition that obligates the movement to recognise Israel,” he said.

Mr Bayomui added that the brotherhood would adhere to international agreements signed by Egypt during the ongoing transition period, but once a new government is installed, the treaty, signed by a regime “far from the people”, would be reconsidered and Egyptians would decide “whether this agreement hurts Egyptian interests and sovereignty”.