The European Union on Monday denounced the decent national address by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in which he blamed regional and western nations for the ongoing conflict in his nation and refused to negotiate a political solution with the rebel forces attempting to overthrow his regime.
In a statement issued by her office on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton noted with regret that the Syrian regime is still "not willing to commit to a credible political solution to the Syrian crisis which, according to the UN, has caused the death of 60,000 people since the beginning of the uprising in March 2011."
She pledged the 27-member European bloc's continued support to the efforts undertaken by the UN and Arab League Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi to find a peaceful solution through an inclusive and democratic transition.
"The High Representative also reiterates her call to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces to engage with JSR Brahimi and his mission," the statement added.
Separately, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the UN chief was disappointed that President Assad did "not contribute to a solution that could end the terrible suffering of the Syrian people."
The EU and UN reactions came a day after Assad delivered a speech to his nation on Sunday, urging all Syrians to unite in wake of the ongoing crisis. He also refused to engage in political negotiations with the rebels attempting to topple his regime and set out the terms of a peace plan that would retain him in power.
"This is a conflict of those who wanted to take revenge against the people to fragment Syria. Those are the enemies of the people and the enemies of God. And the enemies of God will go to hell," the Syrian president said.
Assad also presented a package to politically resolve the crisis. The initiative consists of three phases: a cease-fire, followed by a comprehensive national dialogue on a "national charter," and the establishment of a broad-based government and parliament. But he did not mention a change of regime, the main demand by the rebels as well as the international community to end the crisis.
Soon after the Syrian president delivered his national address, the United States described it as as "yet another attempt by the regime to cling to power and does nothing to advance the Syrian people's goal of a political transition."
US State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said in a statement that Assad's initiative is detached from reality. She noted that it undermines the efforts of the UN-Arab League joint envoy, while allowing the regime to further perpetuate its bloody oppression of the Syrian people.
Noting that Assad has been brutalizing his people for nearly two years, Nuland added: "Even today, as Assad speaks of dialogue, the regime is deliberately stoking sectarian tensions and continuing to kill its own people by attacking Sunni towns and villages."
The developments come as the Syrian conflict, which is now viewed as a civil war by the international community, is threatening to spill over to neighboring countries and increasingly becoming sectarian in nature.
Continued efforts by the international community to find a solution to the crisis have been hampered by a deep divide in the UN Security Council, with Russia and China backing the Assad regime and the West opposing it.
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