World leaders call for Assad to step down

In a statement, President Obama said: “The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way,” Obama said in a statement. “His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people.

“For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”

His call was supported by Prime Minister David Cameron who issued a joint statement with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling on Syrian leader Bashar Assad to step aside “in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people”.

President Assad who is resorting to brutal military force against his own people, has lost all legitimacy and can no longer claim to lead the country EU leaders

The US has imposed further strict sanctions on trade between the US and Syria but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US will take steps to mitigate any unintended consequences of sanctions on the Syrian people. Measures include the banning of any dealing in Syria’s petroleum products by US citizens.

President Obama’s call is a remarkable departure from his policy at the time of his election when he had pledged to engage with the Assad regime.

“Step aside in best interests of Syria”

In their joint statement the leaders of France, Germany and the UK condemned Mr Assad’s regime and called on him to stand down:

“The Syrian authorities have ignored the urgent appeals made over recent days by the United Nations Security Council, by numerous States in the region, the Gulf Cooperation Council and by the Secretaries-General of the League of Arab States and of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. They continue to cruelly and violently repress their people and flatly refuse to fulfil their legitimate aspirations. They have ignored the voices of the Syrian people and continuously misled them and the international community with empty promises.

“France, Germany and the United Kingdom reiterate their utter condemnation of this bloody repression of peaceful and courageous demonstrators and the massive violations of human rights which President Assad and his authorities have been committing for months. We are actively supporting further strong EU sanctions against the regime of President Assad.

“Our three countries believe that President Assad, who is resorting to brutal military force against his own people and who is responsible for the situation, has lost all legitimacy and can no longer claim to lead the country. We call on him to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people.