Kerry Says Looking at Ways to Speed Up Syrian Transition

US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the United States and France are mulling ways to speed up political transition in war-torn Syria, which will be discussed in a "Friends of Syria" meeting in Rome.

Published

3 months ago

Categories

US, World

Topics

US Politics, United States, Middle East & North Africa, Politics & Government, Europe

People

John Kerry, Laurent Fabius

Places

Syria, United States of America, France

Transcript

SHOTLIST PARIS, 27 Feb 2013 SOURCE: AFPTV SOUNDBITE 1, John Kerry, US Secretary of State (English, 23 sec): Speaking of the Syrian opposition: "We want their advice on how we can accelerate the prospects of a political solution because that is what we believe is the best path to peace, the best way to protect the interests of the Syrian people, the best way to end the killing and the violence." SOUNDBITE 2, John Kerry, US Secretary of State (English, 22 sec): "As the largest humanitarian donor today, we think it's very important that more of our assistance is getting to areas that have been liberated from the regime and that's not enough, we need to help the Syrian opposition council, we need to help them to be able deliver basic services." -GVs at press conference ------------------------------ AFP TEXT STORY Kerry says looking at ways to speed up Syrian transition PARIS, Feb 27, 2013 (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday the United States and France were mulling ways to speed up political transition in war-torn Syria, which would be discussed in a "Friends of Syria" meeting in Rome. "We are examining ways to accelerate the political transition,", Kerry said, addressing a joint press conference with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. He said this would be discussed at the Rome meeting Thursday. Kerry also signalled that Washington could be mulling increased aid to the Syrian opposition, saying: "The opposition needs more help. "We think it's very important that more of our assistance gets to areas that have been liberated from the regime," he said. Citing US and European officials, the Washington Post newspaper said the White House is mulling a major policy shift on Syria and is toying with the idea of supplying rebels with direct aid like body armour, armoured vehicles and even military training. mm/ach/am/jmm