Hollande: France must be Convinced that Weapons will not Fall into the Hands of Terrorists

CAPITALS, (ST) _ The EU seemed cautious in dealing with the Arab League’s decision to green light its member states wishing to arm the Syrian opposition.

This came in a statement issued by the Office of the EU High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton, who confirmed that she followed closely the discussions on Syria during the Arab summit held in Qatar few days ago.

Ashton stressed the need for a political solution in Syria, as it is become mostly necessary to initiate a political process to stop the violence.

” We must encourage and boost all efforts to reach a political solution.” She continued.

“France would have to be convinced that the weapons would not fall into the hands of terrorists,” French President Francois Hollande said in an interview with France 2.

“At the moment, we do not have this guarantee,” Hollande said on Friday, adding that before arms were delivered to Syria, guarantees were needed they would not fall into the hands of radical fighters.

“We will not do it as long as we cannot be certain that there is complete control of the situation by the opposition,” Hollande indicated.

On the other hand , the UN envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi considered  arming the opposition in Syria as not a solution to the crisis.

He believed that there is no end in sight to the crisis in Syria and urged the international community to intensify diplomatic pressure on both sides.

 “I do not expect miracles in the near future.  The situation on the ground in Syria is terrible and is getting worse and I think major countries should talk to each other more pressingly  and pass on some decisions through the Security Council as well as to speak to the parties and the countries of the region in a much tougher tone than before.” Brahimi said.

T. Fateh