News / Middle East
Syrian Government Threatens to Pull Out of Geneva Talks
GENEVA — Syria's government has threatened to walk out of peace talks with the opposition if the two sides do not begin what it called "serious sessions" by Saturday.
The ultimatum, aired on Syrian state television, came as the two parties failed to meet face-to-face, as expected, Friday, the first day of formal peace talks in Geneva.
Government and rebel representatives instead are meeting separately, with United Nations peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi. The envoy expressed hope that he could get them together Friday afternoon.
But that is not planned for now. U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Velucci said Brahimi would meet the delegations separately and hold a news conference in the early evening, with no clarity on what will happen after that.
“For the moment, no meetings going on in parallel at the same time. One will be this morning. One will be this afternoon. We are going step by step," she said. "The process is shaping up. I cannot tell you anything on what is going to happen in the next few days.”
The rival delegations have shown no sign of compromise and both have threatened to pull out of the long-delayed talks, which began Wednesday with feisty opening statements in Montreux.
The opposition says it will not negotiate directly with the Syrian government, unless it agrees to discuss the departure of President Bashar al-Assad. Damascus has refused, accusing the rebels of supporting terrorism.
Syrian National Coalition President Ahmad Jarba on Thursday declared there should be no doubt the Syrian "regime is dead." But he said it is important the talks move forward.
"The negotiations will be difficult. There is no easy negotiation. But the road of one thousand miles starts with one step," Jarba said.
The official goal of the so-called Geneva 2 talks is to form a Syrian transition government, though analysts say the chances for achieving this goal are slim.
The division is making it difficult to even do what U.S., Russian and UN officials want the negotiators to do - start talking about side issues to build some level of trust after nearly three years of bloodshed that still continues in Syria. The side issues include local ceasefires, prisoner exchanges and the opening of humanitarian access to nearly half of Syria's people, who the U.N. says are in dire need of aid.
Syrian expert David Butter of London's Chatham House sees little prospect for significant progress during this round of talks.
“Both Syrian sides have got very different objectives going into it. And also, it's in a context where you can't really see either party to the internal conflict actually having any sort of decisive advantage, which would be the basis of some sort of bargaining process,” Butter said.
Still, there is hope that once they get past the posturing of recent days the two sides will find it in their interests to at least start a process. And diplomats indicate that their key supporters - the United States and Russia - will be keeping the pressure on to do just that.
Meanwhile, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Syrian rebels to stop their infighting and focus on the battle against President Assad. Al-Zawahri delivered the message in an audio recording posted on websites used by militant groups.
Al-Qaida-linked insurgents, who do not recognize the peace talks, have clashed in recent weeks with other rebel groups.
The Syrian conflict began in March 2011 as peaceful protests before spiraling into a civil war that the U.N. says has killed well over 100,000 people and forced nearly 9 million from their homes
The ultimatum, aired on Syrian state television, came as the two parties failed to meet face-to-face, as expected, Friday, the first day of formal peace talks in Geneva.
Government and rebel representatives instead are meeting separately, with United Nations peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi. The envoy expressed hope that he could get them together Friday afternoon.
But that is not planned for now. U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Velucci said Brahimi would meet the delegations separately and hold a news conference in the early evening, with no clarity on what will happen after that.
“For the moment, no meetings going on in parallel at the same time. One will be this morning. One will be this afternoon. We are going step by step," she said. "The process is shaping up. I cannot tell you anything on what is going to happen in the next few days.”
The rival delegations have shown no sign of compromise and both have threatened to pull out of the long-delayed talks, which began Wednesday with feisty opening statements in Montreux.
The opposition says it will not negotiate directly with the Syrian government, unless it agrees to discuss the departure of President Bashar al-Assad. Damascus has refused, accusing the rebels of supporting terrorism.
Syrian National Coalition President Ahmad Jarba on Thursday declared there should be no doubt the Syrian "regime is dead." But he said it is important the talks move forward.
"The negotiations will be difficult. There is no easy negotiation. But the road of one thousand miles starts with one step," Jarba said.
The official goal of the so-called Geneva 2 talks is to form a Syrian transition government, though analysts say the chances for achieving this goal are slim.
The division is making it difficult to even do what U.S., Russian and UN officials want the negotiators to do - start talking about side issues to build some level of trust after nearly three years of bloodshed that still continues in Syria. The side issues include local ceasefires, prisoner exchanges and the opening of humanitarian access to nearly half of Syria's people, who the U.N. says are in dire need of aid.
Syrian expert David Butter of London's Chatham House sees little prospect for significant progress during this round of talks.
“Both Syrian sides have got very different objectives going into it. And also, it's in a context where you can't really see either party to the internal conflict actually having any sort of decisive advantage, which would be the basis of some sort of bargaining process,” Butter said.
Still, there is hope that once they get past the posturing of recent days the two sides will find it in their interests to at least start a process. And diplomats indicate that their key supporters - the United States and Russia - will be keeping the pressure on to do just that.
Meanwhile, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Syrian rebels to stop their infighting and focus on the battle against President Assad. Al-Zawahri delivered the message in an audio recording posted on websites used by militant groups.
Al-Qaida-linked insurgents, who do not recognize the peace talks, have clashed in recent weeks with other rebel groups.
The Syrian conflict began in March 2011 as peaceful protests before spiraling into a civil war that the U.N. says has killed well over 100,000 people and forced nearly 9 million from their homes
No comments:
Post a Comment