ROME, Feb 8 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Syria on Tuesday that if it wants to avoid being "isolated" it must end support for Islamic militants intent on wrecking the Middle East peace process.
"It is time for Syria to demonstrate that it does not want to be isolated, that it does not want to have bad relations with the United States," Rice said after talks here with Italy`s Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini.
In a joint press conference dominated by the Middle East as Israeli and Palestinian leaders met in Egypt to discuss a ceasefire, the US official had harsh words for Syria, saying it has been "unhelpful" by supporting Islamic militants intent on wrecking the process.
"I can`t say it strongly enough. You can`t say on one hand that you want a process of peace and on the other hand support the people who are determined to blow it up."
"Syria has been unhelpful in a number of ways" including support for terrorists and militants operating out of South Lebanon, she said.
"There`s a long list and while we sometimes make what I call minimal progress, it is by no means the kind of progress we need to make," said Rice, making her first foreign tour since succeeding Colin Powell as President George W. Bush`s top envoy last month.
She said the Islamic militants opposed to a Middle East peace "cannot be allowed to continue to try to orchestrate the process".
Washington has imposed trade and investment sanctions against Syria under the Syrian Accountability Act passed at the end of 2003 but US officials acknowledge they have nothing new in the pipeline beyond the latest sanctions imposed last May.
"The ties of Syria or Iran to these terrorist organisations really need to be the subject of more discussion not just by the Israelis and Palestinians but of course the Europeans and we as well," said Rice.
Fini, who has recently returned from Moscow, said Russia could be asked to use its influence over Damascus to rein in Syria. For instance, he said, "Moscow can ask Damascus to control the border between Syria and Iraq" and to persuade states in the region to adopt a more "coherent" behaviour to allow Israel enjoy its right to security.
Rice, speaking before heading for Paris on the latest leg of a tour of Europe and the Middle East, also made a strong appeal to Arab states to back the Middle East process.
She said "regional actors" must follow the lead of Egypt and Jordan in supporting the talks, and called on Gulf states to provide the funding that has been pledged to underwrite the effort.
The US official said that if they all lent their support "then we really would have a chance this time for not just a peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but a comprehensive peace for all the people of the Middle East".
Rice later held discussions with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, before flying to Paris. A planned audience with Pope John Paul II was cancelled because of the pontiff`s illness.
Nor did she meet as expected with staunch Bush ally Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, who has been suffering from flu since the weekend.
02/08/2005 12:03 GMT - AFP