Issues on Syria and North Korea to Top Discussions at the G8 Meeting in London

It has been almost 25 months since the civil conflict in Syria erupted. And it seems that no end is in sight in the very near future. According to reports, as of February 2013, the death toll in the armed conflict in Syria is over 70,000 and half of the victims were civilians. In North Asia the most recent threat comes from North Korea. On Wednesday, G8 foreign ministers are meeting in London. Top on the agenda are the escalating Syrian conflict and the threats coming from North Korea.

Host country Britain will try to press their proposal for additional help towards Syrian opposition that had been battling against the forces of the ruling party of President Bashar al-Assad. Also on the priority list is how to respond to the North Korean threats, which for the leaders present an imminent conflict with South Korea, U.S. installations and probably China. Leaders of the Syrian opposition will be present in the meeting and they would be holding separate meetings with foreign ministers that are willing to meet with them. Expected to have talks with the Syrian opposition leaders are John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, Laurent Fabius, French Secretary of State and William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary.

Arms embargo and arms talks

It is expected that the French and British ministers will be pressing for the lifting or amending of the arms embargo placed on Syria. They will propose to support the rebels with arms to keep them at par with the other party. The two countries believe that allowing the opposition to be armed will force President Assad to the negotiating table.

The civilian conflict in Syria started on March 15, 2011. From pocket demonstrations, the protests became nationwide by April 2011. People are protesting against the four decades of rule by the Ba’ath Party. They also want incumbent president, Bashar al-Assad out of office. His family had been holding the Syrian presidency from 1971.

Germany and Russia and other G8 countries are not in favor of the proposal. What they fear is that the weapons might be diverted to the Islamist militants which could lead to the conflict going regional. It would take all of the 27 EU states to agree to the lifting of the arms ban on Syria before amendments could be made on the arms ban. And the amendment or renewal of the ban must be done by the first of June. France and Britain have been saying that they could act on their own about the issue if their proposal is turned down. However, Britain is yet to make a decision on the supply of weapons and will discuss that with France, according to Secretary Hague.

North Korean threats

One other issue that takes top priority is the threat from North Korea. The North had released a warning directed at foreigners to evacuate South Korea to avoid getting caught in the middle of the conflict.

Russia and the rest of the G8 members agree that the threats from North Korea are provocative in nature and should be rejected. However, Russia wants to pursue diplomatic measures to keep the tension down. According to Secretary Hague, there are two options open to North Korea. It could either engage in realistic peace talks with the international community or continue to face additional sanctions. He added that should North Korea continue with its current path, it might end up as an isolated country.

The rest of the G8 meeting agenda includes talks about Somalia, Burma, prevention of sexual violence in war zones and cyber security.