Pres Bashar Assad urges leaders of the Baath Party to revive the
Syrian economy and fight corruption but makes no mention of political
reform in a speech opening a governing party conference. He said: We
have faced numerous difficulties because of the weakness of the
administrative structure, the lack of qualified people and because of
the chronic accumulation of these problems", in a rare admission of
government failure. "On top of this, international conditions and
successive events in our region have had a negative effect on investment
and development opportunities where we had hoped for better", he
added, a reference to tensions with the US and Israel, the insurgency in
neighbouring Iraq and Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon. The
10th Baath Party congress convened while Syria is under increasing
international scrutiny. The country, already under US sanctions for its
alleged role in fueling the Iraqi insurgency, is still reeling from its
April withdrawal from Lebanon, ending a 29-year military presence in its
neighbour. The only way to improve living conditions and public services "is to overcome failure in our performance and address the negative
practices which hamper our progress and constrain our reform
project", Assad told the 1,221 Baath members. Without giving
examples of graft, he said: We need more effective and decisive
mechanisms" to combat corruption". He faces a long list of
demands from the international community and at home, where
pro-democracy activists have become increasingly vocal in their demands
for more freedoms. Analysts say Assad is likely to seek a middle way,
easing some of the pressure by seeming flexible while maintaining a firm
grip on the country. Opposition figures have said the congress is
unlikely to produce more than cosmetic change. Michel Kilo, a prominent
writer and campaigner for democracy, said Assad's focus on the
economy and corruption, as opposed to politics, showed that he follows
the "Chinese model" of reform - liberalising the economy but
not the political system. The speech also showed Assad has "a
cautious yet clear desire for reform", he said. In his speech,
Assad lamented what he called a political atmosphere "that has put
tremendous pressure on Arab citizens and forced them to an unprecedented
re-examination of their convictions and ideas". He cited a
"huge influx of information and ideas made possible by the
communications and information technology revolution, which has made
room for theories and projects, as well as lifestyles which have
overwhelmed Arabs and threatened their existence and cultural
identity". Assad accused unidentified "enemies" of
seeking to destroy Arab identity. "They simply aim at transforming
us into a negative reactive mass which absorbs everything that is thrown
at it without the will or even the possibility of thinking of rejecting
or accepting it", he said. The conference is expected to open the
way for the participation of other parties - as long as they are secular
- endorse free-market reforms to the state-run economy, loosen central
control and perhaps amend the emergency law in force since 1963. The
party also may introduce structural changes by decreasing the number of
members of the National Command - the party's highest authority -
from 21 to 17 and naming new members.
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