Syria’s regime said it was ready to take part in new talks in Geneva aimed at ending the war but appeared to make its participation conditional on which opposition groups attend.
The foreign minister, Walid Muallem, said Damascus “is ready to participate in the Syrian-Syrian dialogue in Geneva without any foreign interference”.
Last week, the UN security council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing a proposed peace plan to bring the regime and opposition together for talks in January. The plan is the result of nearly two months of strenuous efforts among top diplomats from 17 countries, including regime supporters Russia and Iran. But it does not address the sharpest difference between opposition groups and the regime: the fate of the president, Bashar al-Assad.
Muallem’s comments on Thursday seemed to indicate government approval of the plan but with apparent preconditions. Syria had rejected “foreign interference”, and the government’s negotiating team “will be ready as soon as we receive a list of the opposition delegation”, he said.
Muallem said Syria was waiting to receive a list of “terrorist organisations” that would not be allowed to participate in the talks. The UN gave Jordan the task of creating the blacklist, which was submitted on Friday and apparently included Isis and the al-Nusra front, which is linked to al-Qaida.
The UN resolution calls for talks in early January that would lead to the “establishment of an inclusive transitional governing body with full executive powers” within six months. But Muallem referred only to an eventual “national unity government”.
He said Damascus would “compose a constitutional committee to look for a new constitution with a new law of election so the parliamentary election will be held within the period of 18 months, more or less”.
The UN resolution was received coolly by Syrian opposition forces, including the main group in exile, the Istanbul-based National Coalition. Previous efforts to negotiate a political solution to the nearly five-year conflict have faltered, including the 2014 Geneva talks between the regime and opposition forces.
Also on Thursday, government air raids on a rebel-held suburb of Damascus killed at least 20 people, according to activist groups. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Thursday’s attacks targeted the suburb of Hammouriyeh. The group, which tracks the Syrian conflict through a network of activists, says there were women and children among the casualties.
The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said the air raids hit residential areas, killing 23 and wounding dozens.
No comments:
Post a Comment