On the Baath party congress
Syria, Politics, 6/19/2000

The 9th congress of the Baath Party extended its deliberations until Tuesday after it was scheduled to be concluded today.

Well-informed sources said the extension was made due to the need to fully discuss the three political, organizational and economic reports submitted to the conference.

Unanimously, the conferees elected Bashar al-Assad as a " leader for the Baath Party and the people's leadership." Al-Assad will be elected as a regional secretary for the Baath Party on Tuesday.

The sources said the political discussions carried out on Sunday dealt with "the future of Lebanon and the region following the liberation of Lebanon." The conferees reviewed the "great achievement" made by the Lebanese national resistance at Syria's support. They considered the " Zionist project as in the forefront of impeding challenges and risks the Arab nation is facing due to the aggressive objectives it bears aiming at undermining the Arab's present and future."

Well-informed sources said that Lt. Gen. Bashar al-Assad is participating in talks on three main pillars which are " fighting of corruption, drawing a mechanism to this effect and developing the economic infrastructure as well as modernizing the state and the Party."

The sources also said that the change might target 10 to 12 officials out of 18 after the death of the President, quitting Refaat al-Assad, al-Shehabi retirement and al-Zou'bi's suicide.

One official taking part in the conference said that all possibilities are open including " re-considering the situation of the Party's central command and why it does exists."

The same sources added that the question of fighting corruption and reserve measures were fully discussed by the economic committee chaired by the Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa Miro. This was, however, due to the fact that Bashar al-Assad wants to rapidly fight the economic problems.

Heated debates were held when the question of corruption was discussed, especially when the discussions mentioned names of officials involved in it and the volume of their wealth.

The sources explained that the economic aspect is not an easy one. One participant said " you know we have a difficult economic problem. There are many questions on the economic structure of this country and therefore discussions need more time to know what formula hat should be taken to find out the best means to improve living conditions, salaries, reform the public sector, fighting corruption, strengthening conditions for good investment and protecting the private sector through legal legislation."

The economic report submitted to the conference was greatly opposed because it confined to general assessment and did not go into depth and details.

Sources at the conference expected new members to the Baath party regional leadership. They include the commander of the Syrian forces in Lebanon Lt. Gen. Ibrahim al-Safi, the deputy army chief of staff Lt. Gen.Abdul Rahman al-Sayyad, the prime minister Muhammad Mustafa Miro, the foreign minister Farouk al-Shara, the minister of information Adnan Omram and the higher education minister Hassan Resheh.

Other sources said the Baath party leadership will also include for the province of Lattakia besides Bashar al-Assad and Adnan Omar, the minister of education Mahmoud al-Sayed, the army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Ali Aslan and the rector of the political sciences academy Majed Shaddoud.

For the Province of Aleppo, the new Party regional leadership will include the deputy premier for services and the minister of industry.

For the province of Homs there will be the minister of defense Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlass and the presidency translator Butheina Shaaban , She will be the first woman in Syria to be a member in the Baath Party leadership.

For the province of Hama there will be Hassan Resheh and Walid Hamdoun.

For Deir ezz Zour province Saeed Hammadi and in the province of Damascus the minister of Justice Nabil al-Khatib, the secretary of the Baath party branch at Damascus university Ali Diab, and Farouk Abu al-Shamaat and Mahmoud Zaatareyah.

In Daraa the foreign minister al-Shara, and the assistant regional secretary of the Baath Party Suleiman Qaddah.

For the province of al-Sweida only one candidate is the minister of local administration Salaam Yassin and for the Damascus countryside province is the prime minister Muhammad Mustafa Miro.

The Syrian sources remarked that Khaddam ( vice President), al-Ahmar the assistant secretary general of the Baath party) and Abdul Qader Qaddoura ( the speaker of parliament) will keep their previous positions as members in the party's regional leadership.

However, the Syrian PA will meet on June 25 to approve the decision of the Baath Party regional leadership on nominating Bashar al-Assad for the presidency and the nomination will be put for public referendum. A set date for such a referendum was not stated by the speaker of the Syrian parliament remarked it might be held in the first half of July.

Previous Stories:
  On the new changes in Syria   (6/17/2000)
  Baath party 9th regional congress opened today   (6/17/2000)
  The organizational paper to the 9th congress of the Baath Party   (6/16/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search