Britain has urged the Syrian opposition not to hand President Bashar al-Assad a propaganda coup by boycotting this week’s Geneva peace talks because they object to some of the groups invited to the conference by the UN.
Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, made the appeal as negotiators representing the opposition met in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, to thrash out a crucial decision on whether they should attend the long-awaited talks on Friday.
Syrian sources said the 32-member body was split about what to do after a tense weekend meeting with John Kerry, the US secretary of state. Kerry is said to have spoken bluntly about the need to participate in the talks, and to accept the conditions being laid down by the UN. Hammond insisted the Geneva talks were “going to go ahead and said it was always likely that the UN would be able to arrange indirect proximity talks only at this first stage, rather than direct talks between the Syrian regime and the opposition.
He told the Guardian: “For the opposition not to attend the talks would hand a propaganda coup to the regime. The opposition must engage in the talks. We need to focus on confidence-building measures, including a ceasefire.”
Russia, which sponsors Assad, needed to be put to the test about whether it was truly interested in peace and the defeat of Islamic State, as opposed to crushing the moderate opposition, Hammond said.
Riyad Hijab, a former Syrian prime minister and head of the opposition higher negotiations committee, favours taking part in the talks, the sources said, adding that Saudi Arabia was also exerting heavy pressure on the Syrians to go to Geneva. Staffan de Mistura, the UN Syria envoy, issued invitations to the talks on Tuesday, but failed to invite the Kurdish PYD, political wing of the YPG militia, apparently because of Turkish opposition. Other figures invited at Russian insistence are seen by the mainstream opposition as being too close to the regime. De Mistura has said that his priorities for the “proximity talks” between the Syrian government and opposition will be securing a ceasefire, fighting Isis and broadening humanitarian assistance. He has said the talks will last for six months but has been lowering expectations about what they are likely to achieve.
No discussion is planned in Geneva of Assad’s future role or creating a transitional government in Damascus, which are both key demands of the rebels. Opposition supporters complain that that is in line with a plan drawn up by Iran, Assad’s closest supporter, for ending the crisis.
“Clearly, there will be no negotiations between the opposition and the Assad regime to achieve a specific goal, but rather a Syrian forum under the auspices of the UN envoy will convene at the expense of the main issue,” said Burhan Ghalioun, a leading member of the opposition Syrian national coalition.
“Thus, there will be neither accountability nor transition towards democracy but talks and endless discussions,” he said. “This approach will not only exempt the Assad regime from responsibility for the crisis, but will also present the regime as the only salvation for a community that is fragmented and divided. Likewise, Tehran will appear as a guarantor of Syria’s unity after it was the dynamite that blew it apart.”
Hammond attacked Russia for targeting civilians. “There is no question that is what they are doing and almost certainly in breach of international humanitarian law, and it has to stop,” he said.
“They are sitting at a table as participants in a political process, yet on the battlefield they are killing in large numbers the moderate opposition fighters that have to be part of the political solution. The Russians would acknowledge themselves that a political solution in Syria has to involve the moderate opposition members and yet they are waging a war of attrition against them and killing large numbers of civilians.
“We would expect Russia as a key player to play a part in delivering those confidence-building measures.”
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