E.U. Bans Syrian Oil as Syrians Continue Protests

E.U. Bans Syrian Oil as Syrians Continue Protests

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- European Union members escalated the pressure on Syria's government on Friday by banning all imports of Syrian oil in response to its violent suppression of the nearly six-month-old uprising there. It was the most punitive action by the European Union to date over the crackdown in Syria, which sells nearly all its oil to Europe and relies heavily on that export income.

The new sanctions, which take effect on Saturday, came as antigovernment protesters in Syria demonstrated in a number of cities and towns -- including suburbs of Damascus -- despite a heavy presence of police officers and troops who, in some cases, outnumbered the protesters themselves. Activists and witnesses reported that 11 people were killed in the protests, which organizers called "the Friday of 'death before humiliation.'�"

The European Union, like the United States, has already prohibited Europeans from doing business with top Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad and his close aides, to press him to end the crackdown. The uprising is the most serious challenge to his family's 40 years of autocratic rule.

Syria produces only about 400,000 barrels of oil a day, less than 1 percent of global production, and exports about 150,000 barrels a day, 95 percent of it to Europe. The exports provide about 25 percent of the Syria's income and are an important source of cash for the government, which has raised subsidies on fuel and food and increased government salaries to try to ease the unrest.

Syria's economy had already been hit hard by the effects of other sanctions and its growing isolation, with tourism, manufacturing and foreign investment all deeply depressed, and it is no secret that Syrian businesses are increasingly concerned about the country's future. The Damascus stock exchange index has fallen by nearly half since January, and there have been reports that the Central Bank began limiting withdrawals of foreign currency by bank customers in recent weeks, suggesting it is facing a cash shortage.

The new sanctions "will go straight to the heart of the regime," Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal of the Netherlands said at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in the Polish resort of Sopot, where the oil embargo was announced. Many of the ministers had attended the Friends of Libya conference in Paris on Thursday, aimed at helping Libya's new authorities navigate toward a stable state and resume its own oil production.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, said the ministers would discuss what other measures to take against Syria. "That is a conversation that keeps going on," she said.

Under the new prohibition, no member of the 27-member European Union can buy, import or transport oil and other petroleum products from Syria, or enter into financial or insurance services for such transactions, as of Saturday, although existing contracts can be fulfilled until Nov. 15.

Of European Union members, Austria was the most reliant on Syrian oil, importing about 8 percent of its total needs from that country, according to European Union officials in Brussels. Italy and Germany imported about 3 percent of their total crude oil from Syria, they said. The European Union also expanded its list of around 50 Syrians subject to an asset freeze and travel ban, adding four businessmen accused of financing the regime, diplomats said. Three companies were added to an existing blacklist of eight firms in Syria and Iran.

Alain Jupp�, the foreign minister of France, said that his country intended to increase contacts with the opposition in Syria and that "we will not let up on our efforts to bring an end to the repression and to secure a democratic dialogue."

More than 2,200 people have been killed in Mr. Assad's suppression of the revolt, the United Nations has said. Even Mr. Assad's closest foreign supporters, Russia and Iran, have urged him to take steps to mollify the protesters, who have been characterized by his government as terrorists and thugs under the influence of hostile foreign powers.

Some demonstrators on Friday rallied in support of Mohammed Adnan al-Bakhour, a top law enforcement official who resigned this week to distance himself from the crackdown. Mr. Bakhour, the attorney general of Hama, a focal point of the uprising, has been the highest-ranking official to resign since the demonstrations began.

All of the protests on Friday were held under the slogan "Death before humiliation."

"With today's slogan we wanted to tell the regime and the world that Syrians want freedom and dignity, not humiliation under the Assad regime," a protester who gave his name as Hassan said outside al-Hassan mosque in Damascus. "We prefer death to anything less than dignity and freedom."

Activists said that of the 11 deaths reported, four were in two Damascus suburbs, Irbin and Hamouriya, four in the restive city of Homs, and three in Deir al-Zour, a tribal region in eastern Syria along the Iraq border.

In the southern province of Dara'a, where the first protests erupted in March, women demonstrated in the town of Jassem, calling for the fall of the government. Some covered themselves in black shrouds to mourn those who have been killed.

In Damascus, activists said that small protests were held in the neighborhoods of Midan, Rukn Eddin, Qaboun and al-Hajar al-Aswad, and that outside some mosques, security forces outnumbered protesters.

"There were 300 protesters and 500 security men," said Mohamad, a 20-year-old protester from Qaboun. "And everyone demonstrating today knows that he might get killed, wounded or arrested," added Khalid, an activist from al-Hajar al-Aswad.

Nada Bakri reported from Beirut, and Steven Erlanger from Sopot, Poland. Reporting was contributed by Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Rick Gladstone from New York, and James Kanter from Brussels.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

First published on September 3, 2011 at 12:01 am

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11246/1172015-82-0.stm?cmpid=news.xml

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