Syrian secular opposition rejects US funding
Syria-USA, Politics, 2/22/2006

Secular opposition groups in Syria on Tuesday rejected a US plan to allocate five million dollars to pro-reform activists.

The groups, under the Damascus Declaration banner, rejected any financial assistance from any party, after the US State Department announced Friday it would give the funds to accelerate the work of reformers in Syria.

The money would come from the departments Middle East Partnership Initiative to encourage reform in the region, the State Department said.

The Damascus Declaration, made up of several opposition groups and figures, also called for the formation of democratic and modern parties in Syria and the release of all political detainees.

It also stressed the formation had no link with a meeting in Brussels earlier this month between Syria's dissident former vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam and the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

The Damascus Declaration, signed last October 16, calls for democratic and radical change in Syria.

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