Sarkozy, Cameron slam Syrian "butchery" but rule out intervention

Feb 17, 2012, 13:43 GMT

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday strongly condemned the Syrian regime for 'butchering' its people, but ruled out military intervention, saying Syria was different from Libya.

'What is happening in Syria is appalling. You have a government that is butchering and murdering its own people,' Cameron told a joint press conference with Sarkozy in Paris after a bilateral summit.

But, he said, 'We have to recognize there are different circumstances in Syria to those that applied in Libya.'

When Western powers intervened in Libya, it was with the authorization of the United Nations, a call from the Arab League for action and a 'clear opposition in Libya that worked on behalf of the whole country.'

Those conditions did not exist in Syria, Cameron said.

For Sarkozy, the main obstacle to a resolution of the conflict was 'not blocking by such and such a country at the United Nations,' but the failure of the Syrian opposition to mobilize the population against the regime.

Sarkozy said: 'We couldn't have had a revolution in Libya without the Libyans. We can't have a revolution in Syria ... unless the current opposition in Syria makes the effort of organizing and unifying (the people) so that we can support them more.'

'We're ready to do more but we're saying, to all those who want democracy: 'Get organized, unify and tell us how we can help and we will help more',' he added.

Britain and France were working to strengthen the new contact group on Syria, which will meet next week in Tunisia, and were also working 'very closely' with the Syrian opposition, said Cameron.

He also announced that the British government was sending food rations to Syria, to help feed 20,000 people.

'Is that enough? No, it isn't,' he said, agreeing that more had to be done to 'get rid' of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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