For a society to remain peaceful the people have to take responsibility to ensure that environment. With each person, the leaders have to be more diligent in their efforts to remain trustworthy and honest. When issues of difficulty arise the need for peaceful dialogue is at its utmost importance.
During times of difficulty ideology will clash. This is a fact of reality and the root of most violent conflicts. For a society to remain peaceful there needs to be the voice of reason. The voice needs to be someone that will stand up and point out the common elements of understanding, goals, ideology and the reality that each person cares about the future. That person needs to have the trust of the people though. In Syria there are few people that have that trust and even fewer people standing up to voice the commonalities of the conflicting parties.
Who do we have standing up to speak of peace in Syria? The Friends of Syria have acted in a manner which is more an enemy of Syria than a friend. The current leadership in Syria has a tenuous grip on any perceptions of being peaceful. As for a single person, there is only one person that has any form of trust or credibility and that is the United Nations envoy, Kofi Annan.
We need to ask why the results of the 26 Feb referendum have so quickly been forgotten about? Why have the Friends of Syria not pressed upon those results? Why have the Friends of Syria continually called for more weapons? Why have the Friends of Syria worked so hard to discredit the current leadership in Syria knowing that such a tactic will only prolong the violence. Why have the Friends of Syria worked so hard to discredit Russia and China, when those two countries have only called for peaceful discussion within the legal framework of Syrian and international law?
The Friends of Syria have equalled the current leadership within Syria in terms of prolonging the violence. If peace is the return quickly, the Friends of Syria must change their tactics to be more aligned with Russia and China. The call for a universal ceasefire, weapons embargo, highly enforced border security to the point of almost lock down with only food and medical aid to be allowed in and strong pressure to get all sides into discussions.
The phrase “all sides” deals with only the people within Syria. The only outsider taking part in the discussions should be the United Nations envoy Kofi Annan, no one else, not one more person from outside. This is a Syrian process and it is theirs to manage. The international community can assist by providing peacekeepers to ensure that law and order are maintained. Journalist and ngo’s can also enter so that the rebuild can start and is monitored.
The discussions already have a foundation with the 26 Feb referendum. That process indicated the need for a new constitution as well as a new political system. The world needs to support that process. The world needs to look at the reality within the Syrian population two years ago. The country was on a path to peace. As always peace does not arrive quickly enough for some and so they resort to violence. That is the reality which is lost in all of this.
No comments:
Post a Comment