Syrian opposition alliance president offers to resign amid rumours of rifts within group

Damascus, May 18 (ANI): The president of Syrian National Council, main opposition alliance, Burhan Ghalioun has offered to quit amid growing criticisms and rifts within the group.

Ghalioun, who was re-elected as SNC leader on Tuesday, said he would resign once a replacement is found.

"I will not allow myself to be the candidate of division, I am not attached to a position, so I announce that I will step down after a new candidate has been chosen, either by consensus or through new elections," BBC quoted Ghalioun as saying.

Ghalioun has been accused of monopolising power, for being too close to the Muslim Brotherhood, a major component of the SNC, and for failing to give enough support to activists in Syria.

From the moment he was first elected as the SNC president, Ghalioun has faced criticism from other opposition figures that he was not performing his duties well.

The SNC was created as a coalition of seven opposition groups with the goal of providing an alternative to President Bashar al-Assad's government and of serving as a single point of contact for the international community.

However, some of Ghalioun's worst critics have condemned his move, saying that doing this right after he was re-elected for another three-month term only added chaos and disunity within the movement.

The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), a group of activists based both inside and outside Syria, said that the council was moving away from the 'spirit and demands of the Syrian Revolution'.

The LCC also accused Ghalioun of political and organisational failure. (ANI)