Syria to allow other parties

Syria's government, under massive pressure to reform or quit, has adopted a draft law allowing for the creation of new political parties alongside the ruling Baath party.

The decision was taken late on Sunday, the state-run news agency Sana reported, as security forces pressed on with their crackdown on dissent and launched a wave of arrests in Damascus, activists said.

The cabinet "adopted a draft law regarding political parties in Syria as part of a programme of reform aimed at enriching the political life," Sana said.

The plan is to create a "new dynamic and allowing for a change in political power" in Syria, one of the Middle East's most autocratic countries which has been under Baath rule for nearly five decades.

Protesters defying the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in almost daily protests since March 15 have been demanding democratic changes, including an end to Baath hegemony.

The current constitution stipulates that the Baath party, in power since 1963, is "the leader of state and society."

According to Sana, the draft law adopted by the government bans the creation of parties based on "religion, tribal affiliation, regional interests."

Non-Syrian parties or those that discriminate along racial lines or gender are also banned, it said.

The draft law stipulates that "party organs should not comprise any military or paramilitary elements, whether public or secret" while the party principles, objectives and funding must be clearly established, it said.

Prime Minister Adel Safar, who formed his government in April less than a month after the former premier quit in the face of anti-regime protests, in June named a committee tasked with drafting a law on political parties.

Also in April, Assad signed a decree to lift almost five decades of draconian emergency rule and to abolish feared state security courts.

But the efforts of the president, in power since replacing his father Hafez as president in 2000, failed to garner popular support and protests have rocked the country for more than four months calling on Assad to quit.

Security forces have pursued campaigns of arrests despite the lifting of the state of emergency which authorised the arrest and interrogation of any individual while also restricting gatherings and movement.

The authorities have used force to quell dissent, with at least 1,486 civilians reported killed since mid-March, human rights groups say.

The violence has also claimed the lives of 365 soldiers and security forces and driven thousands to flee to safety outside Syria, and at least 12,000 have been detained.

On Sunday, as the government met to rubber-stamp the new draft law, troops made arrests across Damascus after more anti-regime protests there, activists said.

"The army on Sunday arrested nine people in the district of Hajar al-Aswad and many others in Sahnaya," a suburb south of Damascus, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Protesters demanding the fall of the regime marched on Sunday night in Hajar al-Aswad... in response to a campaign of arrests carried out earlier by the army in the capital," he told AFP in Nicosia by phone.

"More than 300 lawyers gathered at the courthouse in Damascus calling for the release of arrested lawyers and prisoners of conscience," he added.

On Saturday, the military arrested at least 26 people in the Damascus neighbourhood of Juber, many of whom were returning to their homes, said the Observatory.

Meanwhile, Germany said diplomats have met Syrian opposition figures in Damascus and Berlin in recent weeks as the European Union demands an end to the crackdown on protesters.

Berlin's coordinator for Middle East policy, Boris Ruge, held talks with opposition members as well as Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on two occasions, foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said.

Germany is one of the first Western countries to announce direct contacts with the Syrian opposition, which has held several meetings in Turkey.

Earlier this month, the US and French ambassadors in Syria met opposition representatives in the city of Hama, the scene of major anti-government demonstrations.

At their July 18 meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers pressed Assad to implement reforms or stand aside as they threatened more sanctions.

The 27-nation EU has already slapped asset freezes and travel bans on the Damascus regime, including on Assad himself.