person:ghassan hitto

Le « 1er ministre intérimaire » des opposants syriens, Ghassan Hitto, élu à ce « poste » le 18 mars dernier, annonce sa démission. La déprise partielle du ticket Qatar-Frères musulmans sur l’opposition syrienne off-shore se confirme.
▻http://www.france24.com/en/20130708-syria-opposition-prime-minister-ghassan-hitto-resigns-syrian-nati

Ghassan Hitto, prime minister of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), the country’s main opposition group, announced his resignation on Monday, citing his inability to form an interim government. [...]
His resignation comes two days after secular dissident Ahmad Assi Jarba was chosen to lead the main opposition National Coalition.
Jarba is seen as close to Saudi Arabia, which opposed the selection of Hitto to head the interim government in March.
Dissidents say Hitto, who is close to the opposition’s Islamist ranks and whose candidacy was backed by Qatar, was unable to work because of divisions within the Coalition.

Syrian opposition considers sacking its U.S.-backed interim leader | McClatchy
▻http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/17/191618/syrian-opposition-considers-sacking.html

Résultat de la rivalité qataro-saoudienne, la carrière de Ghassan Hitto menacée,

Hitto’s ouster after just two months would deal a double blow to the State Department, which has spent more than $60 million to boost the credibility of the Syrian opposition. (...).

U.S. diplomats have been pushing the fragmented anti-Assad movement toward a single body that would be poised to take over in the event of regime collapse and had hoped to identify credible, moderate partners to represent the opposition at the peace conference it hopes will take place next month in Geneva. The deep disarray that a leadership change is likely to engender could derail both those initiatives.

(...)

Two members of the Syrian Opposition Coalition separately confirmed to McClatchy what Arabic-language news reports have said for days: that Hitto is at great risk of being pushed out because his post has become mired in a tug of war between Saudi Arabia and Qatar over Syria’s future. The two Persian Gulf countries are major financiers of the opposition, but the Saudis have balked at Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that dominates the political opposition.

“There are some regional powers who are not in favor of appointing Mr. Hitto,” Walid Saffour, the opposition coalition’s political representative in Britain, said in a phone interview from London. “For now, he’s the elected prime minister, but I don’t know what will happen next week.”

For weeks, State Department officials have talked up Hitto, saying he’d sacrificed a comfortable life in Texas to join the fight against Assad and praising his willingness to cross into rebel-held territories in Syria when many exiled opposition figures won’t. However, the internal election that brought Hitto to power in March was problematic from the start, with many complaining that he was imposed by some combination of the Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar and the United States.

La Coalition Nationale syrienne vient de se voir attribuer le siège jusque-là occupé par le régime de Damas à la Ligue arabe et dispose même aujourd’hui d’une ambassade à Doha. Un gouvernement provisoire est désormais attendu. Sous la conduite Ghassan Hitto, il serait formé d’hommes d’affaires, d’économistes et de technocrates. Tout en jugeant positifs ces développements, Yezid Sayigh (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) met en garde contre la propension de l’opposition syrienne à trop délaisser ce qui fait l’essence de la mission des gouvernants : une administration efficace, la fourniture des services de base aux citoyens, la résolution des conflits et la sécurité dans les zones qu’elle contrôle, au profit des ambitions de telle ou telle de ses composantes. Il rappelle que l’opposition n’a pas encore réglé définitivement un certain nombre de questions : négocier ou pas avec Assad, gouvernement provisoire ? Gouvernement transitoire ? Gouvernement chargé d’expédier les affaires courantes ? Gouvernement installé en Syrie ou à l’extérieur ? Programme de gouvernement ? Yezid Sayigh fait valoir que l’opposition syrienne a amplement démontré son incapacité à s’organiser et que le seul exemple de bonne gouvernance dans les zones libérées est à mettre au crédit des islamistes qui se sont organisés dans la ville de Raqqa (250.000 habitants).

▻http://carnegie-mec.org/2013/03/28/syrian-opposition-s-very-provisional-government/fu0z

Carnegie Middle East Center/ Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Syrian opposition’s very provisional government
Yezid Sayigh

March 28, 2013
“The Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (National Coalition) formally took up Syria’s seat in the Arab League this week. The outgoing chairman of the coalition, Moaz al-Khatib, who had announced his resignation only days before, represented the coalition, and the provisional prime minister, Ghassan Hitto, sat behind him. This recognition is an important diplomatic gain. But it will prove ephemeral unless the National Coalition and its provisional government can follow up speedily by delivering effective administration, basic services, dispute resolution, and security in the liberated areas, which it claims now extend over 100,000 square kilometers and include 10 million inhabitants”.

#Syrian_National_Coalition_of_revolutionary_and_Opposition_Forces #National_Coalition #al_Khatib #Ghassan_Hitto #governance #provisional_government #transitional_government #Qatar #Raqqa

Portrait de Ghassan Hitto, nouveau premier ministre par interim de l’opposition syrienne. Citoyen américain, sa nomination - à laquelle le Qatar a grandement contribué – est perçue comme un renforcement du poids des Frères musulmans au sein de la Coalition nationale syrienne. Hostile au dialogue avec le régime d’Assad, il ne pouvait de fait que recueillir l’assentiment du Qatar, de la Turquie et des Frères musulmans. Sa nomination pourrait signifier l’échec de ceux qui considèrent aujourd’hui, par conviction, par calcul ou par résignation, qu’un dialogue avec le régime d’Assad est nécessaire pour mettre un terme aux affrontements.

Muslim Brotherhood Holds Sway Over Syrian Opposition
By: Hassan Hassan for Al-Monitor. Posted on March 21, 2013

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/syria-ghassan-hitto-muslim-brotherhood.html#ixzz2OHff7DbF

« Ghassan Hitto, a naturalized US citizen from Damascus, was selected on Monday, March 18, by members of the opposition Syrian National Coalition to become the interim prime minister. Little known among Syrians, his appointment is by far the clearest indication of the Muslim Brotherhood’s monopoly over the opposition’s political and military bodies. At least nine figures suspended their membership in the National Coalition in protest, including the coalition’s spokesman, Walid Buni, and Vice President Suhair Attasi, who then retracted her suspension a day later. Hitto is not known to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but he is ideologically close to it. A Syrian close to Hitto told me that he is “100% supported and trusted by the Brotherhood.” His brother is a member who was jailed for many years, his acquaintance said, which is why Hitto fled Syria. The source located Hitto in terms of independence somewhere between Moaz al-Khatib, the coalition’s president who proved to be independent, and the Brotherhood. »

#Syria #Ghassan Hitto # Syrian National Coalition # Muslim Brotherhood #rejection of dialogue with the regime #negociated political solution #Qatar #interim government #Osama Kadi #Moaz al-Khatib

A Istanbul, le 19 mars, le Qatar impose la formation d’un « gouvernement provisoire » syrien et la nomination d’un « premier ministre », Ghassan Hitto (un citoyen américain), au détriment de celui qui avait été précédemment choisi par ce même Qatar et l’Arabie saoudite (Asaad Mustafa, ancien ministre de l’Agriculture syrien). La prochaine étape pourrait être l’admission de ce gouvernement provisoire au sein de la Ligue arabe (Réunion à Doha le 26 mars) au siège jadis occupé par la Syrie d’Assad. Ce « coup » diplomatique prend à contrepied l’Arabie saoudite, une partie de l’opposition syrienne qui a gelé sa participation aux travaux de la Coalition nationale des forces de la révolution et de l’opposition syrienne dont le président, Moaz Khatib, s’était résolu à favoriser une solution diplomatique plutôt que l’option militaire (le « moindre des deux maux »), les Frères musulmans qui ont fini par se rallier au choix qatari par crainte de voir revenir l’Accord de Genève (30 juin 2012) qui prévoit la participation du régime d’Assad à un gouvernement transitoire et Lakhdar Brahimi, Représentant spécial conjoint des Nations Unies et de la Ligue arabe pour la Syrie, qui militait pour que l’opposition syrienne accepte le maintien d’Assad pour quelque temps encore (2013, voire 2014).

Qatar Trumps Saudi Arabia On Syrian Opposition Leader

Mohammad Ballout Translated from As-Safir (Lebanese independent ’leftist’ newspaper)
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/03/qatar-appoint-coalition-head-syria.html#ixzz2OFaCyaxb
A “temporary Syrian government” for the opposition ... a Qatari coup against Saudi Arabia in the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (NCR) ... and the sabotaging of the US-Russian understanding. The first fruit of the above is that 12 NCR members froze their memberships a few hours after provisional prime minister Ghassan Hitto presided over his new Syrian “government” in contravention of the deal that Qatar and Saudi brokered among the various wings in the NCR.

#Qatar #Saudi Arabia #National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces #Arab League #Ghassan Hitto #Asaad Mustafa #Moaz Khatib #US #Russia #Geneva Accord #Muslim Brotherhood #Syrian National Council #Mustafa al-Sabbagh #John Kerry #Sergei Lavrov #Lakhdar Brahimi