Syria peace talks bringing together Bashar al-Assad’s government and the rebels fighting to overthrow him are being delayed by a day or two but will still take place in Geneva, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, has said, amid continuing wrangling over the arrangements.
UN-brokered negotiations aimed at ending the five-year war had been scheduled to begin next Monday, but were being held up by disagreements over representation and the agenda. Diplomats said they were still likely to happen next week and before a deadline of 30 January laid down by the UN.
Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy for Syria, has yet to issue invitations. France, a key supporter of the Syrian opposition, called for patience. “For us, what counts is that these negotiations happen,” an official in Paris said. “They are vital for the resolution of this crisis. We’re going to work on them being credible and creating the conditions for success. We don’t want a process that breaks up after a few days.” The talks are part of the Vienna process, launched in October in the wake of Russia’s military intervention on the side of Assad and amid a growing sense that international efforts to end the conflict were going nowhere, with hundreds of thousands of Syrians dead and millions made homeless.
The novelty of the two sessions in the Austrian capital was that Iran and Saudi Arabia, Assad’s staunchest regional backers and opponents respectively, were both at the table for the first time. The downside was that neither of the Syrian parties were represented. Recent tensions between Riyadh and Tehran have further complicated matters.
The US and Russia, working more closely together since last autumn, insist they want to proceed without delay. British officials said on Thursday that there was still no agreement but they hoped the Geneva session would go ahead early next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment