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HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani yesterday called on the international community to support efforts to end the Syrian conflict after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel who warned the whole region faced destabilisation.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim stressed the need for a solution “as quickly as possible”, saying the Syrian people had sacrificed a lot during more than two years of violence.
“Against this background it is important that this chapter ends, that the people’s efforts are realised and that the international community helps and supports in this area in a clear and effective way,” he said.
Qatar started supporting the Syrian rebels after it became “frustrated” and gave up hope of reforms by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim told a joint press conference.
“Our goal is to help the Syrian people realise their wishes and aspirations,” he said, adding that Merkel had echoed this view in their detailed discussion of the two-year-old conflict in which the UN estimates 70,000 people have died.
Merkel said Assad had lost his legitimacy and was “not open at the moment to a political solution. This defines Germany’s course and in this sense we are working together with Qatar”.
Germany will not arm the rebels as its constitution bars it from sending weapons to conflict zones, Merkel said. But she acknowledged that some European Union member states did want to arm them and that the EU had provided some logistical aid.
“So the question of which side we are on is beyond dispute,” said the chancellor.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim was in Berlin to inaugurate the Business and Investment in Qatar Forum which opened on Monday
Accords with Macedonia
HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani arrived in Skopje from Berlin yesterday evening for a one-day official visit to Macedonia. Following a session of official talks chaired by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim and Macedonia’s Premier Nikola Gruevski in Skopje later, Qatar and Macedonia signed an agreement and a memorandum of understanding.
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