Jordan's king urges Assad to step down

AL Jazeera English  Middle East

King Abdullah becomes first Arab ruler to call for Syria's president to resign after eight months of uprising. Last Modified: 15 Nov 2011 00:58

Jordan's King Abdullah has called for Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, to step down in the interest of the Syrian people. The king made the comments in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Monday, two days after the Arab League voted to suspend Syria's membership over its crackdown on anti-government protests. "I believe, if I were in his shoes, I would step down," Abdullah said. "I would step down and make sure whoever comes behind me has the ability to change the status quo that we're seeing." Jordan has been critical of its northern neighbour Syria's crackdown on anti-government protesters in recent months. King Abdullah, the first Arab ruler to issue such a call over the eight months of uprising, said Assad should usher in a new era of political dialogue before stepping down. "Again, I don't think the system allows for that, so if Bashar has the interest of his country, he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life," he told the BBC. Damascus had no immediate public comment. 'Conspiring against Damascus' Al Jazeera's correspondent Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from the Jordanian capital, Amman, said: "This is a turning point in Jordan's position in what is happening in Syria, in recent month government officials have shied away from making any strong statements about Syria. "Syria and Jordan have never enjoyed the friendliest of relations. In the last few decades they were always marred with tension and nobody knows what triggered this kind of response. "The Jordanian cabinet of ministers is going to meet on Tuesday to discuss how Jordan is going to do its part to implement the Arab League agreement to suspense Syria from the bloc," she said. "They [the ministers] will also talk about what [they are] going to do about the Jordanian ambassador in Damascus, I think recalling him back now to Amman is imminent, now that the king of Jordan has made such a strong statement." Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics, said despite the king's comments, the reality is that Assad "is not going anywhere". "The Syrian response, I suspect, would be that the Arab counterparts have no right to preach to them about democracy and respect for human rights because the Arab counterparts are not born-again Democrats," he told Al Jazeera. "What King Abdullah said - and this is very surprising for many people - it tells you about the extent of divisions within the Arab League and among the Arab states. There seems to be a consensus emerging among Arab states that President Assad must go. The Americans had made the argument a few days ago." Monday's comments came as Arabs closed ranks against Damascus. The Arab League had given Syria until November 16 to end its violent crackdown on protesters demanding President Bashar al-Assad's resignation or face suspension from the regional body. On Saturday, the bloc voted to suspend Syria over attacks on protesters that the United Nations estimates have killed 3,500 people since mid-March. Syria has reacted angrily to the Arab League's decision. Earlier on Monday, Walid al-Moallem, Syria's foreign minister, accused Arab nations of conspiring against Damascus, calling Saturday's near-unanimous vote at the Arab League's headquarters in Cairo, "shameful and malicious". European Union governments also agreed on Monday to extend sanctions against Syria to 18 more individuals associated with Assad's violent crackdown on dissent.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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