(Zaman Al Wasl)- Well-informed sources told Zaman al-Wasl that the opposition delegation in Geneva agreed with the U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura to abandon the transitional period discussion in the eighth round of Syria's peace talks in contrary to media statements.
According to the sources, de Mistrua agreed with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his last visit to Moscow to not negotiate the transitional period where the opposition says Bashar al-Assad play no role in any interim post-war government.
This demand pushed the regime delegation quit U.N.-led peace talks in Geneva on Friday and said it would not return next week unless the opposition withdrew a statement demanding no Assad’s role.
The regime’s chief negotiator Bashar al-Ja‘afari said after on Friday, referring to de Mistura. “As long as the other side sticks to the language of Riyadh 2 ... there will be no progress,” Reuters reported.
He was referring to a position adopted by Syrian opposition delegates at a meeting in Riyadh last week, in which they stuck to their demand that Assad be excluded from any transitional government.
Ja‘afari went further in a televised interview with al-Mayadeen TV: “We cannot engage in serious discussion in Geneva while the Riyadh statement is not withdrawn.”
De Mistura put a brave face on the impasse, saying in a statement that he had asked the delegations to engage in “talks next week” and give their reactions to 12 political principles.
Previously there had been some speculation the opposition could soften its stance ahead of this week’s Geneva negotiations, in response to government advances on the battlefield.
The Syrian civil war, now in its seventh year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven 11 million from their homes. So far all previous rounds of peace talks have failed to make progress, faltering over the opposition’s demand Assad leave power and his refusal to go.
The opposition, which held brief talks later with U.N. officials, rejected the charge that it was seeking to undermine the talks, and said it sought a “political solution”.
“We have come to this round with no preconditions,” opposition spokesman Yahya al-Aridi told reporters.
“Now, not coming back is a precondition in itself. It’s an expression or a reflection of a responsibility toward people who have been suffering for seven years now,” Aridi said.
Nasr Hariri, the opposition delegation chief, said earlier on Friday that his side had come to Geneva for serious, direct negotiations with Assad’s government. So far, government and opposition delegations have not negotiated face-to-face in any Syrian peace talks but have been kept in separate rooms.
“We call on the international community to put pressure on the regime to engage with this process,” Hariri said in a statement.
De Mistura said on Thursday the talks would run until Dec. 15, but the government delegation might return to Damascus to “refresh and consult” before a resumption probably on Tuesday. (Zaman Al Wasl, Reuters)
Zaman A Wasl
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.