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A band made up of inmates from one of Malawi's most congested prisons has secured the country's first Grammy nomination.

Allgemeines : Am Donnerstag stimmt das Plenum über einen Antrag von 283 Abgeordneten zur Einsetzung eines Untersuchungsausschusses zu den Verstößen gegen die EU-Regelungen über Abgas-Messverfahren ab.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2015 - EP

Az EU-nak vissza kell szereznie az ellenőrzést a külső határai felett, ha meg akarja fékezni a migrációs hullámot és megakarja őrizni Schengent – áll az Európai Tanács elnökének a tagállamok vezetőihez írt levelében. Egyesek úgy vélik, hogy a Bizottság határőrségről szóló javaslata a tárgyalások időigényessége miatt nem alkalmas a görög probléma rövid távú megoldására.

La première partie de la présentation des vœux de Nouvel an au chef de l’Etat a débuté mardi. A la Nouvelle Présidence de la République, ce sont les confessions religieuses qui ont ouvert le bal. Elles ont été suivies par les organisations syndicales, l’administration générale, la Société civile, les médias, les chefs traditionnels, les ordres professionnels, des artistes et aussi…. les partis politiques.
 
Devant Faure Gnassingbé, la Conférence épiscopale du Togo, le Conseil chrétien et l’Union musulmane du Togo ont imploré la grâce de Dieu sur le Togo et demandé au Créateur d’accorder une bonne santé au Chef de l’Etat et au gouvernement pour leur permettre de poursuivre l’effort de construction d’un Togo prospère.
 
A leur suite, les Centrales syndicales ont salué l’adoption du décret d’application du nouveau statut général de la fonction publique. Ces organisations ont également plaidé pour l’adoption des mesures adéquates dans les industries extractives. Elles appellent à la reprise du dialogue social et l’extension de l’Institut national d’assurance maladie (INAM) à tous les Togolais.
 
D’autres couches de la population togolaise se sont également prêté au même exercice. Il s’agit de la chefferie traditionnelle, les ordres professionnels, de la société civile, des médias, de l’administration générale, de l’armée, des artistes, etc.
 
Mais comme à chaque édition, le passage le plus remarqué et très attendu est celui des partis politiques. Occasion pour plusieurs togolais de voir quels sont les leaders de partis politiques qui iront saluer le Chef de l’Etat.
 
Mardi, presque tous les partis majeurs de la scène politique togolaise étaient présents à la Présidence de la République pour la présentation des vœux. En dehors du parti au pouvoir, Union pour la République et ses alliés comme la Convergence patriotique panafricaine (CPP), on a noté la présence du Comité d’action pour le renouveau (CAR) de Me Paul Dodji Apévon, du Nouvel engagement togolais (NET) de Gerry Taama, de l’Organisation pour bâtir dans l’union un Togo solidaire (OBUTS) représenté par son Président Agbéyomé Kodjo.
 
Naturellement, il ne fallait pas compter avec l’Alliance nationale pour le Changement (ANC) de Jean-Pierre Fabre qui se réclame toujours président élu à la dernière élection présidentielle d’avril 2015. Le candidat arrivé officiellement 2e derrière Faure Gnassingbé avec un peu plus de 35% des voix et sa formation politique ont brillé par son absence.
 
Qu’à cela ne tienne, l’opposition présente à la Présidence a eu l’occasion de présenter ses doléances. Francis Ekon, président de la CPP qui parlait au nom des partis politiques a rappelé à Faure Gnassingbé et son gouvernement, la nécessité des réformes constitutionnelles et institutionnelles ainsi que l’organisation des élections locales. Des revendications toujours exprimées par l’opposition dans son ensemble, y compris ceux qui étaient absents.
 
Les cérémonies de présentation de voeux se poursuivent le vendredi prochain avec les institutions de la République.
 
source : togobreakingnews
 

Cet article Vœux au Chef de l’Etat: l’opposition réclame les réformes, l’ANC aux abonnés absents est apparu en premier sur Togoactualite.

A Biztonságpolitikai Szakkollégium (BSZK) 2015. december 14-én megtartotta félévzáró Közgyűlését, amelyen a szervezet elmúlt időszak során végzett tevékenységének összegzése és értékelése mellett személyi kérdésekről és a Szakkollégium jövőjére vonatkozó legfontosabb teendőkről is döntés született.

A Biztonságpolitikai Szakkollégium Egyesülete (BSZKE) Elnökségének jelenlévő tagjai, valamint a Diákbizottság (DB) összességében sikeresnek értékelték az elmúlt félévet. A tagság a szakkollégiumi élet meghatározó elemei közül az önképzés ( forráselemzés és rendvédelmi ismeretek kurzus), a szakmai tevékenység (a biztonsagpolitika.hu minőségi tartalommal történő feltöltése, valamint eredményes szereplés a Kutatók Éjszakáján, az Őszi Tudományos Hallgatói Konferencián és a Tudomány Kapujában poszterversenyen), rendezvényszervezés (MigRatio – A menekültügyi kihívások jogi, biztonsági és segélyezési aspektusai, Kis Háború – az alternatív védelmi koncepció – beszámoló, A Dél-kínai-tengeren kialakult konfliktus geopolitikai és geostratégiai aspektusai, Fukushimai katasztrófa japán szemmel) valamint a közösségi programok (ócsai csapatépítő hétvége, III. Biztonságpolitikai Szakmai Kupa) terén is eredményes munkát végzett. A Szakkollégium a szóban forgó időszak alatt sikerrel vett részt a Nemzeti Tehetség Program keretében meghírdetett pályázaton, amit az Oktatási Hivatal által nyilvántartott szakkollégiumok támogatására írt ki az Emberi Erőforrások Minisztériuma. Ennek köszönhetően a következő félév során számos szakmai és közösségi program megvalósítására kerülhet sor.

A Közgyűlésen a személyi kérdések kapcsán döntés született új tagok felvételéről, tisztújításról, valamint egy tag BSZK-ból történő kizárásáról. Az őszi felvételi eljárás során aktív és szakmai követelményeknek is megfelelő szereplésük elismeréseként a felvételi bizottság javaslatot tett a Közgyűlésnek Al-Agha Cintia Asoum, Bartók András, Bukó Barbara, Csurgai Zita, Dús Pongrác, Gáspárovics Krisztián, Kovács Georgina, Kulin Máté, Molnár Mónika, Németh Ferenc, Osgyáni Anikó, Störk Bálint BSZK-ba történő felvételére, amit a jelenlévők egyhangúlag meg is szavaztak. A tisztújítás vonatkozásában az alábbi változások következtek be: Pénzváltó Nikolett lemondott szakmai alelnöki pozíciójáról, utódjául Szabó Márkot nevezte meg, Kukovics Mihály lemondásával megüresedett a titkári pozíció, melynek betöltésére Pákozdi Nórát kérte fel a DB. A Közgyűléshez egyéb javaslatok nem érkeztek, és a testület a jelölteket kivétel nélkül megszavazta. Emellett a DB javaslatára a Közgyűlés úgy határozott, hogy inaktivitása okán Király Pétert kizárja BSZK-ból.

A Közgyűlés utolsó napirendi pontját képező jövőbeni feladatok kapcsán a tagság egyetértett abban, hogy tovább kell folytatni a félév során megkezdett munkát, melynek egyik fontos eleme a többi, biztonságpolitkával foglalkozó szervezettel történő szorosabb együttműködés kialakítása.

(Actualisé) La France va acheter quatre exemplaires de la version la plus moderne de l’avion américain. On évoque la somme de 500 millions.

Dear President Poroshenko, Dear President Juncker. Dear Petro and Jean-Claude,

One year ago when I hosted my first European Council, EU leaders pledged to stay the course on Ukraine. And we have done so, working to help stabilise the situation and making sure that Ukraine's own efforts are transforming the country in a positive direction.

Our policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol is in force. And our economic sanctions against Russia will remain linked to the complete fulfilment of the Minsk Agreements.

Beyond the crisis, the European Union has been supporting Ukraine in its ambitious, and absolutely crucial, agenda of political and economic reforms. Reforms have started to bring results, but still we continue to expect a lot from the Ukrainian authorities in the months to come.

We are lending economic and technical support and have engaged, through the efforts of Jean-Claude and the Commission, on securing Ukraine's energy supplies. We are making sure that the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement will enter into force as smoothly as possible from the 1st of January next year. This will lead to the gradual economic integration of Ukraine in the EU internal market.

Finally, Ukraine has made good progress over past months with regard to visa liberalisation, which should allow us to advance towards a visa-free regime as soon as possible. I hope we can find an agreement on the outstanding issues this evening.

To sum up. Europe will stay the course. Ukraine must stay the course of reforms. And Russia must change its course.  

Plenary sessions : No-one should ever be detained for the sole reason that he or she is an asylum seeker, said speakers in a debate on Wednesday evening. To apply for asylum is a basic human right, and detention can only be used as a measure of last resort, they insisted. Several MEPs criticised declarations by European Council President Donald Tusk about detaining migrants for up to 18 months in order to “screen” them. Other MEPs argued that such decisions are better taken at national level.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : No-one should ever be detained for the sole reason that he or she is an asylum seeker, said speakers in a debate on Wednesday evening. To apply for asylum is a basic human right, and detention can only be used as a measure of last resort, they insisted. Several MEPs criticised declarations by European Council President Donald Tusk about detaining migrants for up to 18 months in order to “screen” them. Other MEPs argued that such decisions are better taken at national level.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : No-one should ever be detained for the sole reason that he or she is an asylum seeker, said speakers in a debate on Wednesday evening. To apply for asylum is a basic human right, and detention can only be used as a measure of last resort, they insisted. Several MEPs criticised declarations by European Council President Donald Tusk about detaining migrants for up to 18 months in order to “screen” them. Other MEPs argued that such decisions are better taken at national level.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Mardi 15 décembre 2015, un DV Day (Distinguished Visitor Day / journée consacrée aux autorités) a été organisée sur la base aérienne de Langley en Virginie à l’occasion du Trilateral Exercise Initiative (TEI) qui se déroule du 2 au 18 décembre.

Határozatban ítéli el a kormány alapvető jogokat veszélyeztető lépéseit.

A group of women wait their turn to buy rationed food that is sold at subsidised prices, at a government shop in Havana, Cuba on Nov. 21, 2015. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Dec 16 2015 (IPS)

While the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba is moving ahead, and the U.S. and Cuban flags have been proudly waving in Havana and Washington, respectively, since last July, the year gone by since the thaw has left many unanswered questions.

“You shouldn’t ask me, because in my view, nothing has changed,” one slightly angry middle-aged man told IPS while waiting his turn in a barbershop. In a nearby farmers’ market, a woman asked, loudly so that everyone could hear, why a pound of tomatoes cost 25 pesos (nearly a dollar).

Many Cubans feel that they don’t have much to celebrate this Dec. 17, the first anniversary of the day Presidents Raúl Castro of Cuba and Barack Obama of the United States took the world by surprise with their decision to reestablish diplomatic relations, severed in January 1961.

People who got excited about the idea that their daily lives would begin to improve after more than half a century of hostile relations are ending the year with public sector salaries that do not even cover their basic food needs.

The Cuban press reported that Marino Murillo, minister of economy and planning and vice president of the Council of Ministers, admitted at a recent session of the provincial legislature of Havana that the overall economic indicators in the capital had improved, but that this has not yet been reflected in the day-to-day lives of local residents.

The thaw has, however, had a positive impact on tourism, by giving a boost to emerging private enterprises like room rentals and small restaurants, options chosen by many visitors interested in getting to know Cuban society up close.

According to official statistics, in the first half of 2015 this country of 11.2 million people was visited by 1,923,326 people, compared to 1,660,110 in the first half of 2014. Visitors from other parts of Latin America can be frequently heard saying that they wanted to come to Cuba before the “invasion” of tourists from the U.S.

People from the United States can only travel to Cuba with special permits, for religious, cultural, journalistic or educational purposes, or for “people-to-people” contacts. Experts project that 145,000 people from the U.S. will have visited the country this year – 50,000 more than in 2014.

Two primary school students walk by a group of foreign tourists in a plaza in Old Havana. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

The ban on travel to Cuba for the purpose of tourism and the embargo that Washington has had in place against this socialist country since 1962 are among the pending issues to resolve in the process of normalisation of ties promoted over the last year by official visitors to Cuba who have included Secretary of State John Kerry, two other members of Obama’s cabinet, and three state governors.

“Beyond a number of grandiloquent headlines, everything remains to be done,” Cuban journalist and academic Salvador Salazar, who is earning a PhD in Mexico, told IPS. In his view, only the first few steps have been taken towards “what should be a civilised relationship marked by talking instead of shouting, and debating instead of attacking.”

Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas, concurred that after 55 years of hostile and dangerous relations, the governments of the two countries are learning how to respect each other.

“…[I]f 2015 was about both governments learning to treat each other with dignity and respect, 2016 has to be about building on that progress and using diplomacy to create lasting benefits for both countries in order to make the changes we are seeing irreversible and the further changes we want inevitable,” she told IPS by email.

In September, a binational commission created after the official restoration of diplomatic relations and the reopening of embassies defined the issues for starting talks aimed at clearing the path towards normalisation, including communications, drug trafficking, health, civil aviation and maritime security.

Human rights, human trafficking and demands for compensation by both sides were other questions on the agendas outlined by the delegations from the two countries. The list also includes immigration, an issue that has been discussed for years in periodic talks held to review progress on agreements signed in 1994 and 1995.

The talks about the agreements aimed at ensuring “safe, legal and orderly” immigration are not free of tension, given the Cuban government’s frustrated demand for the repeal of the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act’s “wet foot, dry foot” policy and other regulations that according to authorities here encourage illegal migration.

Washington has reiterated that it will not modify its immigration policy towards Cuba. The anniversary of the start of the thaw finds some 5,000 Cuban immigrants stranded at border crossings in Costa Rica without any apparent solution, in their quest to reach the United States by means of a route that takes them through Central America and Mexico.

John Gronbeck-Tedesco, assistant professor of American Studies at Ramapo College in New Jersey, believes the Obama administration is doing its part to clear the way towards reconciliation, and says the talks held so far have calmed the “anti-normalisation rhetoric.”

But the academic says he does not yet see a climate favourable to the lifting of the embargo, which can only be done by the U.S. Congress, “especially” given the fact that 2016 is an election year.

According to the Cuban government, the embargo has hindered this country’s development and has caused 121.192 billion dollars in damages over the past five decades.

“I think that before Congress takes up the matter, however, the significant issue of debts still owed will need to be settled more clearly,” added the analyst, referring to the question of compensation that the two countries began to discuss in a Dec. 8 “informational” session in Havana.

“The U.S. has a price for Cuban American property and investments lost (nationalised) due to the revolution, and Cuba has a number in mind regarding the economic harm caused by the embargo. These debts are as politically symbolic as they are materially real for both interested parties,” added Gronbeck-Tedesco, without mentioning specific figures.

In an interview with the press published Monday Dec. 14, Obama reiterated his interest in visiting Cuba, although only if “I get to talk to everybody”.

He said that in his conversations with Castro he has made it clear that “we would continue to reach out to those who want to broaden the scope for, you know, free expression inside of Cuba.”

The two leaders have spoken by phone at least twice and met in person for the first time on Apr. 11, at the seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama. And on Sep. 29 in New York they held the first official meeting between the presidents of the two countries since the 1959 Cuban revolution.

*With reporting by Ivet González in Havana.

Edited by Verónica Firme/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

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Plenartagung : Am Donnerstag stimmt das Plenum über einen Antrag von 283 Abgeordneten zur Einsetzung eines Untersuchungsausschusses zu den Verstößen gegen die EU-Regelungen über Abgas-Messverfahren ab.

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2015 - EP

Faced with a plethora of crises and foreign policy challenges, Sven Biscop asks whether Europeans are up to the challenge of acting strategically.

The post Can European strategy cope? appeared first on European Geostrategy.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 2015 (IPS)

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her immigration policies early this week — and announced plans to absorb about one million refugees, mostly from Syria — she was apparently greeted with a nine-minute standing ovation by members of her Christian Democratic Union.

If that was the good news, the bad news arrived 48 hours later: a grim report that the conflict in Syria has led to “the largest refugee crisis of our time, with colossal human, economic and social costs for the refugees, host countries and host communities,” according to a new study released Dec 16 by the World Bank Group and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The nearly 1.7 million Syrians who are registered in neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon live in precarious circumstances– notwithstanding the generosity of hosting governments.

“Refugees have few legal rights, and face constrained access to public services due to unprecedented demand. The vast majority of these refugees live on the margins, in urban or peri-urban areas, many in informal settlements, rather than in refugee camps.”

The plight of the refugees is dire and the lives and dignity of millions is at stake, declared the joint study.

Nearly nine in ten registered Syrian refugees living in Jordan are either poor or expected to be in the near future.

The crisis has had effects that go beyond the Middle East as desperate refugees are starting to move to Europe and beyond, the study warned.

“We have a collective responsibility to respond to the humanitarian and development crises unfolding in the Middle East and to act on the immediate consequences as well as on the underlying causes of conflict,” said Hafez M. H. Ghanem, World Bank’s Vice President for Middle East and North Africa Region.

But despite Germany’s generosity, there is still lingering opposition to the concept of open borders to refugees, who also include asylum seekers from Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

Frans Timmermans, first vice president of the European Commission, told a news conference in Strasbourg, France, Tuesday: “The borders that migrants cross are not just Greek borders or Bulgarian borders – they are European borders.”

Such borders are a collective responsibility, he said, and added: “if we don’t protect them in the right way, the consequences will be for all Europeans.”

Still there is widespread criticism of the negative responses both from Eastern European countries and the rich Arab Gulf nations.

Asked whether Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is disappointed that Gulf states and Asian countries have not offered to host refugees, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said: “Well, you’ll have seen the offers as they come in. It’s still not really enough by our standards.”

He said there’s still a lot more that needs to be done to accept Syrian refugees, but the UN is appreciative of the offers that have gradually been coming in from countries in the Western world, in the region and around.

“But, ultimately, in order to lower the burden on countries like Turkey, like Jordan, like Lebanon, we’ll need other countries to step up and do more.”

Asked specifically about the Gulf countries, he said there’s been some slight movement in different areas, “but it’s still not at the level that we need to actually ease the burden on the countries in the region.”

Addressing the UN General Assembly last month, Abdulmohsen Alyas of Saudi Arabia told delegates his country “had hosted 2.5 million refugees and allowed them free movement within the country.”

He also said Saudi aid to the Syrian people had reached about 700 million dollars, according to the Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, held in Kuwait last March.

Still the irony of the crisis was best reflected in a cartoon where Merkel appeals to King Salman of Saudi Arabia, one of the richest countries in the Gulf, to allow some of the migrants to settle in his kingdom.

“Don’t worry Ms Merkel,” King Salman is quoted as saying, “you can take all the refugees – and we will build 200 mosques for them in Germany.”

According to the Lebanese newspaper Al Diyar, Saudi Arabia has vowed to build one mosque for every 100 refugees entering Germany.

Andrea Scheuer, general secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria, described the offer as ‘cynical’.

‘No, it is more than cynical,” he added as an afterthought.

“This is no Muslim Brotherhood. Where is the solidarity in the Arab world?’ he asked.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@aol.com

Général : Une demande introduite par 283 membres du Parlement européen en faveur de la création d'une commission d'enquête pour investiguer sur les violations des règles européennes relatives aux mesures d'émissions des voitures, sera mise aux voix ce jeudi en session plénière.

Source : © Union européenne, 2015 - PE

Joris Leverink is a writer and political analyst based in Istanbul. He is an editor for ROAR Magazine and a columnist for TeleSUR English, where he frequently reports on Turkish and regional politics.

By Joris Leverink
ISTANBUL, Turkey, Dec 16 2015 (IPS)

While the war in Syria continues to draw in more outside forces, the work towards finding a political solution to this five-year old conflict carries on. In the past week, no less than three separate conferences were organized by different clusters of opposition groups. Conferences were held in three places: Damascus, Dêrîk – a city in the Kurdish-controlled northern part of Syria – and Riyadh, the Saudi capital, respectively.

With the Damascus conference widely regarded as a sham, organized with the permission and under the firm control of the Assad regime, and the conference in Dêrîk being all-but ignored by the international media, the eyes of the world were fixed on the proceedings in Riyadh.

The conference in the Saudi capital was sponsored by a number of international allies to the various warring factions inside Syria. The intended outcome was to unite the Syrian opposition so that it could present a common front in upcoming negotiations with the regime, as determined by the Vienna talks held in November.

Remarkably, little attention was paid to the conference in Dêrîk – called the “Democratic Syria Congress” – organized by Syrian Kurdish groups and their allies. This conference brought together more than a hundred delegates representing religious and ethnic groups from all over Syria, with an important role reserved for women and youth organizations. It was the first peace conference of its kind organized in opposition-controlled territory inside Syria – a fact that goes a long way in pointing out the significance of this particular event. Contrary to the one in Riyadh, this was a conference by Syrians, and for Syrians, not controlled by the agendas of powerful international allies nor obstructed by the dogmatic views of some of its participants.

The Riyadh conference was attended by political bodies such as the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and the National Co-ordination Committee for Democratic Change, as well as rebel factions like Jaysh al-Islam, the Southern Front and Ahrar al-Sham, a salafist group fighting in alliance with the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front.

Tellingly, the New York Times reported that in the final statement of the Riyadh conference the word “democracy” was left out because of objections by Islamist delegates, and replaced with “democratic mechanism” instead.

In contrast, the final resolution presented at the Democratic Syria Congress in Dêrîk underlined the delegates’ commitment to democracy, social pluralism, and national unity. It confirmed the participants’ determination “to form a democratic constitution to enable solutions to the Syrian crisis through democratic, peaceful discussion, dialogue and talks; … to hold free and democratic elections required by the current process in Syria; [and] to secure the faith, culture and identities of all Syrian people.”

The Dêrîk conference also saw the establishment of the Democratic Syrian Assembly, which will serve as the political representation of the newly formed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is a Kurdish-dominated coalition of rebel factions, including Arab, Syriac, Turkmen and Yezidi forces. In recent months, the SDF has proved to be ISIS’ most formidable enemy, and the international coalition’s most reliable ally in the fight against the terrorist organization.

It might come as a surprise, then, that neither the SDF nor any other Kurdish organizations were invited to the Riyadh conference. As a faction that controls an area many times the size of that under control of the National Coalition – or any other rebel group for that matter – and which has been able to claim a string of victories against ISIS, it naturally ought to play a role in any post-Assad, post-ISIS future plan for Syria.

The Kurds’ absence in Riyadh has everything to do with Turkey’s position in the Syrian conflict. From the Turkish perspective, the Kurds in Syria pose a bigger threat to its national security than ISIS.

Turkey fears that the establishment of the autonomous regions, or “cantons,” in the Kurdish parts of northern Syria might inspire its domestic Kurdish population to pursue a similar goal. The fact that the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is the most powerful political body in the region, is a sister organization to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging a 35-year insurgency against the Turkish state, only adds insult to injury.

Commenting on the Riyadh conference, PYD co-chair Saleh Moslem stated that “it doesn’t pay regard to the current political and military reality in Syria and the region, as the most active and dynamic actors and representatives of the actual Syrian opposition haven’t been invited. In the circumstances, such meetings will have no seriousness.”

Before it even started, the precarious alliance formed in Riyadh was already on the verge of collapse. Ahrar al-Sham threatened to pull out of the talks, condemning the presence of “pro-Assad forces” and deeming the final statement “not Islamic enough.”

The goal to bring all the different opposition factions to the table, to explore common ground and to form a united front against the Assad regime is a noble one. Unfortunately it is doomed to fail when the alliance neglects to reflect the reality on the ground as well as the will of the Syrian people.

When it is merely the outcome of external parties pushing their agendas for personal benefits – whether it is to strengthen the position of local allies on the ground, to obstruct the efforts of the Kurdish autonomous administration or to explore options for negotiations with Assad in order to be able to focus all energy on destroying ISIS – any alliance will be too weak to withstand the test of time, let alone the test of war.

In this regard, despite the lack of international attention, the conference in Dêrîk might actually supersede the one in Riyadh in terms of importance. Despite the increasing involvement of outside forces, diplomatically, politically and, most important, militarily, any real solution to the crisis in Syria must be initiated by the Syrian people, not any outside power.

The Democratic Syria Congress in Dêrîk has shown that there is not only a will to work towards peace, but that there is also an infrastructure in place, a platform, where the first, cautious steps towards a peaceful future and an “alternative democratic system aiming at change” have been made.

(End)