Syria: Syrian exiles are jockeying in Paris
to head the Syrian National Council, the main
anti-regime group so far paralysed by infighting and accused of not doing enough
on the ground.
While Western and Arab nations try to push through a UN resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad's deadly crackdown in which at least 5,400 people have been killed, the opposition is struggling with a lack of unity.
Paris-based academic Burhan Ghalioun should on February 15 lose his job as SNC chief, a position that is supposed to rotate every three months, in part to distinguish the SNC from the regime's own monolithic, hereditary power.
Sociologist Ghalioun has lived in France for more than 30 years and was anointed the SNC's first head in October, bringing together the revolt's nationalists, liberals and independents, as well as the majority Muslim Brotherhood.
But a failure to find another consensus candidate for the SNC's top job on January 15 meant the left-leaning Arab nationalist had to stay in the job for another month.
Several players, including two freshly arrived from Syria and claiming to "represent the street", are vying for the top job and hoping to give the SNC much-needed weight and direction.
Historic opposition leader George Sabra, a Christian and former communist, is a member of the SNC's 26-member secretariat and has just arrived in France from Syria.
While Western and Arab nations try to push through a UN resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad's deadly crackdown in which at least 5,400 people have been killed, the opposition is struggling with a lack of unity.
Paris-based academic Burhan Ghalioun should on February 15 lose his job as SNC chief, a position that is supposed to rotate every three months, in part to distinguish the SNC from the regime's own monolithic, hereditary power.
Sociologist Ghalioun has lived in France for more than 30 years and was anointed the SNC's first head in October, bringing together the revolt's nationalists, liberals and independents, as well as the majority Muslim Brotherhood.
But a failure to find another consensus candidate for the SNC's top job on January 15 meant the left-leaning Arab nationalist had to stay in the job for another month.
Several players, including two freshly arrived from Syria and claiming to "represent the street", are vying for the top job and hoping to give the SNC much-needed weight and direction.
Historic opposition leader George Sabra, a Christian and former communist, is a member of the SNC's 26-member secretariat and has just arrived in France from Syria.
After spending years in prison under president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, Sabra was arrested again in July, some four months after the start of the uprising against the Damascus regime...
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