Syrian official defects to protest Assad crackdown

[March 09, 2012]  BEIRUT (AP) -- Syria's deputy oil minister announced his defection in an online video that emerged Thursday, making him the highest ranking official to abandon President Bashar Assad's regime since the country's uprising erupted a year ago.

The defection of Abdo Husameddine, who said he was joining the opposition because of the "brutal" crackdown on dissent that has claimed the lives of thousands of Syrians, came as the U.N.'s humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said she was "struck" by the devastation she saw in a shattered district of the central city of Homs.

Amos is the first independent outside observer to be allowed in Hom's Baba Amr since the military overran the district, wrestling it from rebel control on March 1 following a monthlong assault that brought international condemnation. She was allowed a brief tour in the ravaged district on Wednesday.

"The devastation there is significant. That part of Homs is completely destroyed and I am concerned to learn what happened to the people in that part of the city," she said in Damascus, after meeting with Syria's education and health ministers on Thursday.

In Cairo, former U.N. chief Kofi Annan said his top priority as special envoy to Syria is to end the violence and deliver badly needed aid.

Annan, who has been appointed joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, said his mission was to start a "political process" in Syria to resolve the one-year conflict there.

The uprising began with largely peaceful protests but faced with a vicious regime crackdown, became increasingly militarized. The U.N. says more than 7,500 people have been killed in the yearlong violence. Activists put the death toll at more than 8,000.

Addressing a news conference after talks on Thursday with Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby in Cairo, Annan said he has the full backing of the international community for his mission. He is scheduled to travel to Damascus on Saturday, where he will likely meet Assad.

Assad's power structure has seen a steady stream of army defectors who have joined a group of dissidents known as the Free Syrian Army, now numbering in the thousands, but civilian government officials have remained largely loyal.

That makes the defection of Husameddine, the deputy oil minister, significant.

"I do not want to end my life servicing the crimes of this regime," Husameddine said, announcing his resignation in a video on YouTube.

He identified himself as an "assistant" to the oil minister and a member of the ruling Baath Party and said he has served 33 years in various government positions. Ministers in Syria may have several assistants known as deputies.

In the video, Husameddine is shown wearing a suit and tie and sitting on a sofa at an undisclosed location, reading from a paper. "I, Abdo Husameddine, deputy oil and mineral resources minister, announce my defection from the regime and resignation from my post ... and declare that I am joining the dignified people's revolution," he said.

He appeared to address Assad directly.

"You have inflicted on those you claim are your people a full year of sorrow and sadness, denied them the their basic rights to life and humanity and pushed the country to the edge of the abyss," he said.

It was not clear when or where the video was filmed, and there was no immediate comment from Damascus.

Among numerous military defections recently was that of Syrian brigadier-general Mostafa Ahmad al-Sheik, who fled to Turkey in January, becoming the highest-ranking officer to defect.

In late August, Adnan Bakkour, the attorney general of the central city of Hama, appeared in a a video announcing he had defected from the regime. Authorities reported he had been kidnapped and said he was being kept against his will by gunmen. He has not been heard of since.

In the YouTube video, Husameddine said he was defecting "knowing full well that this regime will burn my home, persecute my family and make up a lot of lies."

"I advise my colleagues ... to abandon this sinking ship," he added.

[Associated Press]

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