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Moustafa said the councils were crucial for the country to re-emerge under civilian rule. If they failed, it would risk emboldening military commanders to create their own fiefdoms in liberated areas, or Islamic extremists
-- better armed and with money -- to set up their own power centers. U.S. officials acknowledged the importance of helping civilian activists, rather than fighters, to prepare to provide services when the country's leadership falls. "People with guns who don't know how to have bread baked are quickly going to lose credibility on the street. People with guns who can't make the lights come back on are going to quickly lose credibility on the street," said a senior U.S. official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the talks. During talks Friday, Clinton pledged $15 million in new non-lethal equipment
-- mainly communications equipment -- and $30 in million humanitarian assistance to Syria's opposition. In total, the U.S. has offered $130 million in humanitarian supplies and about $40 million in equipment such as including satellite-linked computers, telephones and cameras. Britain and France have also offered millions of dollars worth of aid supplies and equipment. At the General Assembly on Friday, Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, warned of the risks that Syria's civil war could spread to other Middle East nations. "The Syrian regime deploys every instrument to turn the legitimate struggle of the Syrian people into a sectarian war, which will engulf the entire region into flames," he said. On Saturday, nations including Uruguay, Denmark, Portugal, Sudan and Angola were scheduled to address the assembly.
[Associated
Press;
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