The ruling Baath party has pledged to ease its grip on Syrian political life, according to a report published on Sunday.
"The role of the leader-party is to plan, oversee, direct, observe and take account," stressed a party declaration printed in the Iqtisadiyya magazine, noting "the need for comrades and party institutions to be entirely distant from daily executive work."
Sunday's resolution comes after a call by hundreds of Syrian intellectuals to president Bashar al Assad to expand political liberties.
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
