SYRIAN OPPOSITION ELECTS NEW PRESIDENT . The Syrias Western-backed opposition National Coalition said it has elected Hadi al-Bahra, Chief Negotiator at the Geneva peace talks, as its new president following a three-day meeting in Istanbul. They said al-Bahra, a U.S. trained industrial engineer, would replace Ahmad Jarba, who has served the maximum two six-month terms. The coalition said al-Bahra wins coalition presidency by 62 votes. They said the election has become imperative because they have little power inside Syria where disparate militant groups outside its control hold ground. They said the infighting within the opposition coalition has also undermined rebel efforts to take on forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, playing into the hands of rival, more hard-line Islamist outfits that include foreign militants. They said the U.S. and Russian have sponsored talks to end the three-year-old civil war stalled after two rounds in January and February, when the coalition and Assads representatives failed to make substantive progress. Report said at least 162,000 people have been killed in Syrias conflict, which started with pro-democracy protests in March 2011, before developing into a full-blown war, activists say.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 13:19:10 +0000
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