Dokument #1057188
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
According to the Website of the Minorities
at Risk Project of Maryland University's Center for International
Development and Conflict Management., the National Alliance for the
Liberation of Syria "was announced in Paris under the leadership of
Hammoud elShufi" on 3 April 1982 (13 Nov. 1995). However, according
to Revolutionary and Dissident Movements the alliance "was
proclaimed in 1982 in New York by Hammud al-Shufi" (1991, 331).
According to Political Handbook of the World, 1998 the
Alliance was established on 11 March 1982 (1998, 897). The Charter
of the Alliance, reportedly issued in Damascus on 11 March 1982,
was announced on the Baghdad "Voice of Arab Syria" on 22 March
1982. The principal points of the Charter are well summarized in
Revolutionary and Dissident Movements (1991, 331)
available in regional Documentation Centres.
According to the Website of the "Minorities
at Risk Project" at the University of Maryland, Revolutionary
and Dissident Movements and Political Handbook of the
World, 1998, the Alliance consisted of approximately 20 groups
opposed to the Assad government, proposing the institution of a
constitutional multi-party democracy under Shari'a law
(ibid.). According to the latter two sources member organizations
included the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Front in Syria
(ibid.). For information concerning the Muslim Brotherhood, please
consult SYR31471.E of 17 March 1999.
According to Revolutionary and
Dissident Movements, Hammud al-Shufi was a "Druze and
doctrinaire Marxist" who was Syria's delegate to the United Nations
(ibid., 330). The same source also makes reference to a 1989 Iraqi
News Agency report in which a Muhammad Umar Burhan is named as a
member of the general secretariat of the Alliance (ibid., 331).
The Iraqi News Agency broadcast statements
attributed to the organization in 1982 and 1983 (21 July 1982; Feb.
1983).
According to Political Handbook of the
World, 1998 the Alliance was reportedly headquartered in Cairo
as of 1986 (897). According to the same source:
An announcement from Paris in February 1990 suggested that the National Alliance had been succeeded by an "all-Syrian" Patriotic Front for National Salvation based at Baghdad, Iraq (ibid.).
However, according to a 6 December 1990
report in the BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, Republic of Iraq
Radio was broadcasting a program called "Voice of the National
Alliance for the Liberation of Syria". There was also an earlier
1987 reference to the program (ibid., 17 Nov. 1987). However, on 27
June 1997 the BBC Summary of World Broadcasts reported that the
National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria program broadcast
from Iraq had not been heard for over a year and that the frequency
on which it had been carried was no longer observed.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 27 June
1997. "Observations on Opposition Media." (NEXIS)
_____. 6 December 1990. "Syria."
(NEXIS)
_____. 17 November 1987. "Less
Iraqi-Syrian Mutual Criticsim in Broadcasts." (NEXIS)
Iraqi News Agency. 11 February 1983.
"Statement by Anti-Syrian Alliance." (BBC Summary 15 Feb.
1983/NEXIS)
_____. 21 July 1982. "Anti-Assad
Organization in Syria." (BBC Summary 23 July 1982/NEXIS)
Minorities At Risk Project, University
of Maryland at College Park, Maryland. 13 November 1995. Jonathan
Fox.. "Alawis in Syria." [Internet] http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidem/mar/syralawi.htm
[Accessed 14 June 1999]
Political Handbook of the World,
1998. 1998. Edited by Arthur S. Banks. Binghamton, NY: CSA
Publications.
Revolutionary and Dissident
Movements: An International Guide. 1991. 3rd ed. London:
Longman Group UK.
Voice of Arab Syria, Baghdad. 22 March
1982. "Syrian Opposition Charter." (BBC Summary 26 Mar.
1982/NEXIS)