EU - Syria

Assad makes international comeback with French visit

Saturday 12 July 2008

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Paris Saturday on the eve of a Mediterranean summit, marking his return to the world stage.

Read FRANCE 24's special report on the Union for the Mediterranean.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a comeback on the international stage on Saturday, with a visit to France for talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy, on the eve of a Mediterranean summit.
  
After years of being shunned by former French leader Jacques Chirac, Assad was welcomed in Paris for a meeting at the Elysee palace before joining some 40 other foreign leaders for a Mediterranean summit on Sunday.
  
He was also to hold talks later Saturday with new Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, their first meeting since his election in May ended Lebanon's worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
  
Assad and Sleiman could announce a breakthrough in talks on establishing diplomatic relations at the meeting that was also to be attended by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, whose country brokered the power-sharing deal that ended the Lebanese crisis.
  
But speculation of a historic meeting between Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been quashed, even though the leaders will find themselves at the same table for the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean.
  
Sarkozy has invited leaders from 44 countries, including Arab nations and Israel, for the founding summit of the union aimed at boosting cooperation between EU and Mediterranean rim states.
  
On Monday, the 42-year-old Syrian leader joins about a dozen leaders to watch the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs Elysees during France's national celebrations.
  
"This visit is for me a historic visit: an opening up to France and to Europe," Assad said in an interview last week to Le Figaro newspaper.
  
While the United States continues to view Syria as a terror state, France under Sarkozy has moved to renew high-level ties that went into a deep freeze after the 2005 assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, who was a personal friend of Chirac.
  
The former president cut off all high-level contacts with Syria, a former French colony, after repeatedly accusing Damascus of having a hand in Hariri's assassination. Syria has denied the claims.
  
Despite concerns over Syria's rights record, France sees Assad's willingness to take part in the new Mediterranean forum and its indirect talks with Israel as signs that Damascus is seeking a more constructive role in the Middle East.
  
Sarkozy is expected to raise human rights during his one-on-one talks with Assad on Saturday and try to advance the Israeli-Syrian peace process, aides said.
  
Assad has suggested that the energetic Sarkozy, who took over from Chirac in May last year, could play a direct role in Israeli-Syrian talks.
  
Israel and Syria, which technically remain at war ever since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, have held three rounds of indirect talks through Turkey since March, raising peace prospects after an eight-year break.
  
France and the United States have called on Lebanon and Syria to establish full diplomatic relations to bolster stability after Damascus pulled its troops out of Lebanon in 2005, ending nearly three decades of military presence.
  
After the election in May of Lebanon's Sleiman under a power-sharing deal, Sarkozy moved to reward Assad by renewing high-level contacts with Syria.
  
While the United States initially reacted coolly to France's rapprochement with Syria, Washington has since asserted it is confident Sarkozy is conveying the right message to Damascus on its role in the Middle East.
  
But France's leftwing Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner last month commented that he was "not particularly pleased" by Assad's presence at the July 14 national fete.
  
While Assad will be applauding troops marching in the Bastille Day parade, Chirac will be conspicuous by his absence from the dais. Officials have denied the former president's decision to stay away was linked to Assad.
  
Assad's visit comes during France's presidency of the 27-nation European Union.