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Syria seeks Australiaâs help to woo US
SYRIA has appealed to Australia to use its close ties with Washington to help the Arab nation shake off its reputation as a terrorist haven and repair its relations with the US. Secret talks between the two nations have been under way for months but have become more urgent as rogue nations reconsider their role in allowing terrorists to thrive, in light of the US determination to take pre-emptive military action. Australiaâs close relationship with Washington, and its much higher profile in the Middle East, have prompted Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa and parliamentary speaker Mahmoud Al-Ibrache to appeal to Canberra to help bring their country back in from a US-imposed diplomatic freeze. Syria has sent a delegation to Australia and has hosted a series of visits by Australian parliamentarians. Drawing on the British-sponsored return of Libya to the international fold, Australia is demanding that Syria take a tougher role against terrorists, particularly those using the nation as a base for operations into Iraq. Australia also has called on the former Soviet client state to abandon any pursuit of weapons of mass destruction before it returns to the fold. Syria has supported the war on terror but the Bush administration has been sceptical about its commitment, fearing Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were smuggled across the border before the US-led invasion last year. In November, senior Syrian officials asked a bipartisan Australian delegation led by National Party senator Sandy Macdonald to use Australiaâs influence with the US to achieve a diplomatic rapprochement. Senator Macdonald said yesterday: "Syria is a country that has been a bastard state for nearly 40 years. But the leaders we spoke to in Syria appear keen to make linkages with the West and it sees Australia as having influence in Washington." The overtures to Syria are seen as a response to the Westâs determination to confront rogue nations that may either pose a threat themselves or pass on weapons to terrorists. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer last night welcomed Syriaâs commitment to broadening dialogue with the international community. "We would like to see Syria follow Libyaâs example in making a genuine return to the international community," he said through a spokesman. "But Syria must abandon any effort to attain weapons of mass destruction, act to control the flow of terrorists across its border with Iraq and step up support for the war on terror." He said Australia was considering reopening an embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The embassy was closed in 1999 because of cost-cutting. Syriaâs Melbourne-based honorary consul, Antonios Zyrabi, confirmed to The Weekend Australian last night that Syria wanted Australia to help it come in from the diplomatic cold.
Posted by: tipper 2004-03-27 |
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