Syrians believe 40 years of Assad family rule is too long, the international mediator for Syria said, the closest he has come to calling directly for President Bashar al-Assad to quit.
The remarks by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi cast doubt on the future of his peace plan, the only major diplomatic initiative to end a war the United Nations says has killed 60,000 people.
He appears to have been pushed to take a firmer stance by a speech Assad delivered on Sunday, which was billed as a new peace proposal but offered no concessions and included a vow never to talk to foes he branded terrorists and Western puppets.
“In Syria, in particular, I think that what people are saying is that a family ruling for 40 years is a little bit too long,” Brahimi told Britain’s BBC in an interview aired yesterday.
“So the change has to be real... and I think that President Assad could take the lead in responding to the aspiration of his people rather than resisting it.”
Brahimi’s comments were welcomed by the Opposition, which has long been angered by the UN mediator’s refusal to take a firm position on excluding a future role for Assad.
“The statement of Lakhdar Brahimi has been long awaited,” the opposition National Coalition’s representative to Britain, Walid Saffour, said.
“He hasn’t criticised Bashar al-Assad before, but now after he despaired of Assad after his Sunday speech, he had no other alternative than to say to the world that this rule is a family rule, and more than 40 years is enough.”
Assad has ruled since 2000, taking over from his father Hafez, who seized power in a 1970 coup.
Brahimi met Assad in Damascus two weeks ago and has been convening senior US and Russian officials in an effort to narrow differences between the superpowers backing either side in the war.
The next round of those talks are due next week.
Brahimi said Assad had told him in December he would launch a new initiative. The veteran Algerian diplomat advised the President that any announcement should go further than previous failed proposals. He was disappointed by Sunday’s speech.
“I’m afraid what has come out is very much a repeat of previous initiatives that obviously did not work,” Brahimi said.
“It’s not really different and perhaps is even more sectarian and more one-sided,” he added.
“The time of reforms granted magnanimously from above has passed. People want to have a say in how they are governed.”
Brahimi said there was no military solution to the conflict: “The Government will not win. The opposition may win in the long term, but by the time they do, there will be no Syria, so what is the victory in that?”
He said Assad had told him he wanted to run for re-election in 2014. Although Brahimi did not comment directly on whether Assad should be allowed to stand, he said the crisis needed to be resolved by the end of 2013.
Meanwhile in Damascus yesterday, rebels freed 48 Iranian captives they had been holding since August in return for the Government releasing more than 2,000 prisoners.