Australia Announces New Syria Sanctions

SYDNEY – Australia Monday announced fresh sanctions against Syria restricting or prohibiting trade across entire sectors as Foreign Minister Bob Carr urged Russia to take a lead role in regime change.

The new measures affect trade between Australia and Syria in oil,  petroleum, financial services, telecommunications and precious metals and are  in addition to an existing arms embargo and sanctions against individuals  connected to leaders in Damascus.

“The Assad regime continues to show its unwillingness to negotiate a  ceasefire and bring an end to Syria’s bloodshed,” Carr said in a statement.

“These sanctions reflect Australia’s condemnation of the Assad regime, and  our continued efforts to help bring Syria to the negotiating table.”    The European Union is also expected to slap fresh sanctions on President  Bashar al-Assad’s government at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg  on Monday.

More than 15,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria since  the outbreak of the revolt against Assad’s rule in March 2011, according to the  Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In an opinion piece for The Australian newspaper, Carr, who has just  returned from meetings across the Middle East, called for Moscow to take a lead  role in forcing Assad out.

He said Russia, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security  Council, had an obligation to show leadership, adding that with hostilities  continuing, a lead role for Moscow was “the only immediate viable solution”.    “Crucially, Syria’s most important external supporter, Russia, has, so far,  not shown any signs of putting pressure on Assad to walk off the stage and see  a successor offer negotiation with regime opponents,” he said.

“If Russia reconsiders, however, it will give itself a reputation for  leadership beyond the promotion of Russian national interest.

“This must, of course, be under the overarching responsibility of the  Security Council. Russian support would be indispensable to the departure of  Assad.”    Russia has so far refused to join calls for Assad’s ouster and has vowed to  block any attempts by the UN Security Council to authorise the use of foreign  force. – AFP

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