SYRIA: Syria's liberal opposition has said it will not accept a US offer to fund democratic groups in the country, saying its credibility would be damaged if it did.
A group of a dozen parties, known as the Damascus Declaration, said yesterday they had enough resources of their own to press ahead with a campaign to end the 40-year monopoly on power of the Baath party.
"The Damascus Declaration refuses foreign funding, including the $5 million from the US State Department for the Syrian opposition," a statement by the group said. A US State Department official said the money it promised two weeks ago was for "democratic reformers" not opposition or political groups.
Damascus Declaration founding member Hassan Abdel Atheem said: "Our project is nationalist, independent democratic change in Syria, not through occupation or economic pressure as we see the United States doing."