PARIS, Apr 17, 2012 (AFP) - The French foreign minister said Tuesday that economic sanctions against Syria have stripped Bashar al-Assad's regime of half of its financial reserves and should be stepped up.
"We should maintain the pressure on the Syrian regime," Alain Juppe said at the start of a meeting of officials from 50 countries which support sanctions designed to halt Assad's violent repression of a popular revolt.
"This should be done through stronger sanctions, which have an impact on the Syrian authorities," he said, as world powers pressured Assad to respect the ceasefire foreseen by UN envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.
"Sanctions are an effective tool to strip the Syrian regime of the resources it needs to finance its militias -- the grim death squads it calls the shabiha -- and to to buy weapons," Juppe said.
"Measures targeting the banking and financial sector, notably a freeze on the holdings of the Syrian Central Bank, have seen oil revenues dry up and withdrawn precious resources from the Syrian state," he said.
"We know that the Syrian authorities, whose financial reserves have according to our information, been cut in half, are actively seeking alternative ways to get round these sanctions," he warned.
Juppe did not put a new figure on Syria's reserves.
In the year since the start of the uprising just over a year ago -- during which time 11,000 civilians have been killed, according to rights monitors -- several states and organisations have imposed unilateral sanctions.
Attempts to create a unified international sanctions regime under the UN Security Council were vetoed by Russia and China, but Western powers and the Arab League are pushing for tougher global action.
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