Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Syrian peace plan seen as doomed

Updated at 2:44 pm on 1 July 2012

Two Syrians living in New Zealand say a new international peace plan for their homeland is doomed to failure.

Foreign ministers in Geneva have agreed that a transitional government should be set up, but have left open the question of what part President Bashar al-Assad might play in the process.

Tarik Al-Diery, of Auckland, whose family was exiled to New Zealand in 1992, says the new plan, like the last one championed by UN/Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, is doomed because it won't get rid of President Assad.

He says the new plan is based on wishful thinking and has no clear goals.

However, he says many Syrians believe the Assad regime is crumbling from the inside and could fall within a couple of months.

Syrian Solidarity New Zealand spokesperson Ali Akil says the new plan is worse than the previous one because it appears to give the regime a license to keep killing.

He says the Free Syrian army is capable of overcoming the regime given appropriate support by the international community.

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