THE  December 2010 Arab Spring has no doubt extended its wind of change to Syria, as the people resolutely demand for just one thing: the only constant thing in life, change.  Syria had its turn of the social upheaval, Day of Rage, ravaging the Arab world by demanding for an end to autocracy and calling for a greater social, economic and political freedom from the hegemonic rule of its rulers.

The courage of the Syrian people unfolded when on January 26, 2011, protesters collectively asked for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, to end the almost 50-year-rule of the Ba’ath Party. As expected, the peoples’ revolt against the government was violently resisted as the Syrian army was deployed to kill, maim and destroy the opposition and the genuine agitation by civilians.

So far, over 15,000 protesters and civilians were reported to have been injured, almost about 4,000 killed while over 100,000 were said to have been clamped in jail in the government’s desperate attempt to resist change.

The contending issues warranting the new lease of life are the unbearable level of unemployment, absence of a reliable constitution, high inflation, official corruption, call for democratic reforms, recognition of the Kurdish rights, abrogation of emergency laws and the Supreme State Security Courts.

Analysts have also identified the sectarian dimension to the uprising for it is well known that al-Assad’s Ba’ath Party is dominated by the Alawite Shiite Muslims, which is supported by a reasonable number of the Syrian population that comprise many Christians, Alawite minorities, Sunni upper and middle classes.

Though the Kurdish minority is divided in the struggle, the opposition has maintained that there is no tribal clash of interest in the national struggle which is endorsed by the United States, the United Nations and a few Arab nations.

Iran, Russia, China and the Lebanese militia group, Hezbollah have been blamed for backing al-Assad. For instance, Russia and China – permanent members of the UN Security Council – have consistently vetoed UN resolutions against the Syrian government, fearing that it could lead to a violent revolution.

Iranian President Mahmoud Almadinejad had called for a mutual resolution of the impasse; his government’s spokesman described the Syrian crisis as a mere demonstration of a ‘foreign plot’.

In its desperate bid to pacify the people, the Syrian government took some hard-line concessionary decisions, including lifting of emergency laws in April last year, after 48 years of its enactment, which had hitherto curtailed the sweeping powers of government to push aside the constitution. Also, in July, more political parties were given the go-ahead to be formed.

In spite of these efforts, described by the opposition as trivial, the call for change seems to become louder, putting the nation that Al Jazeera has described as a ‘kingdom of silence’, in a precarious situation.  It is instructive that President al-Assad took over from his father, a former Defence Minister, Hafez, when he died in 2000, after a widely criticised constitutional amendment which lowered the age requirement of president from 40 to 34, just for Bashar to come on board!

As a way of resolving the debacle, a former Secretary-General of UN, Mr. Kofi Anan has now been appointed as the Joint United Nations-Arab League envoy, given the mandate to bring to an end, ‘all violence and human rights violations, and promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis’.

The Secretary-General of UN, Mr. Ban Ki-moon had clamoured for a political solution in ending the imbroglio. He observed that the nature and scale of abuses perpetrated by the Syrian forces indicated that crimes against humanity were likely to have been committed.

The President of the UN General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser has re-affirmed the necessity of finding an urgent end to the stalemate in his latest discussion with the Turkish President, Abdullah Gul. A coalition, “Friends of Syria”, United States Secretary of States, Hilary Clinton and the Red Cross have joined individuals and groups on the need to end the bloodshed in Syria, which has spread to several cities and has completely crippled the nation.

The “Friends of Syria”, meeting for the first time, has no more leverage than in previous efforts, either as individual nations or through the United Nations, to make Assad leave. Nearly 70 nations involved in the group decided that Assad and his allies should see that his removal from office became inevitable.

At the just-concluded Tunisian Conference, “Friends of Syria” had equally recognised the Transition National Council as the legitimate authority of the country while arming the opposition has been described by the US Secretary of States, Hilary Clinton as an ‘excellent idea’.

The conference condemned the Syrian government and demanded the implementation of an Arab League plan that would see Assad step-down in a peaceful transition to democracy.  The European Union has joined the latest onslaught as it threatened to freeze the assets of Syria’s central bank, as part of a package of tighter sanctions aimed at stopping a crackdown on the opposition.

Mr. ADEWALE KUPOLUYI wrote from  the Federal University of Agriculture, Ogun State.