Syria FM says new government on March 1

AFP | Damascus

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Syria’s foreign minister announced yesterday that a new government would take over next month from the interim cabinet formed following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, vowing that it would represent all Syrians in their diversity.

The new authorities will have to rebuild Syria’s institutions after more than 50 years of Assad family rule and revive an economy smashed by nearly 14 years of war.

Still weighed down by heavy international sanctions, the government will also need to persuade Western capitals that the jihadist origins of the rebels that toppled Assad are confined to the past.

Asaad al-Shaibani said the new cabinet would take into account the multi-ethnic, multi-confessional nature of the country, at a time when the international community has called for the protection of minorities.

“The government that will be launched March 1 will represent the Syrian people as much as possible and take its diversity into account,” Shaibani said on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in the United Arab Emirates.

The Syrian people would be “partners in change,” he said, adding that “changes and adjustments we made over the past two months on the political roadmap were derived and inspired by consultations with the diaspora and civil society”.

Activists have also expressed concern about the rights and representation of women, while officials have insisted they will be a part of the new Syria.

Having seized power, the Islamist-led rebels installed an interim government headed by Mohammad al-Bashir to steer the country until March 1.

Last month, Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS) that spearheaded the overthrow of Assad, was appointed interim president.

The new authorities are to form a transitional legislature with the Assad-era parliament dissolved along with the Baath party which ruled Syria for decades.

In an interview earlier in February, Sharaa said organising elections could take up to five years.

On Tuesday evening, the presidency announced that Syria’s main opposition bodies that had operated in exile had handed over to Damascus the files they were handling, as part of efforts to “dissolve” institutions formed during the conflict.

The move amounts to abolishing Syria’s main unarmed opposition groupings in an effort that echoed Sharaa’s bid to dismantle all armed groups and incorporate them into the army.