UN-brokered peace talks with the Syrian government and opposition have been suspended only three days after they began, highlighting the enormous difficulties of finding a political solution to the war and the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Hours before the opening of a major international donor conference for Syria in London, Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy, announced in Geneva on Wednesday that he was suspending the fledgling process until 25 February because there was “more work to be done”. It is unclear whether they will in fact resume.
De Mistura told reporters that “it is not the end and it is not the failure of the talks”. But he linked the move to mounting anger among the opposition that they are being pressured to negotiate while Syrian government and Russian air attacks on rebel areas continue and escalate. Bashar al-Assad’s opponents say that UN resolution 2254, mandating the talks, requires an end to airstrikes and humanitarian relief for suffering civilians.
“Talks would not be meaningful if there is no benefit for the Syrian people,” De Mistura said at an impromptu press conference outside the hotel where opposition negotiators are staying. He had spent the previous two hours talking to their chief, Riyad Hijab, a former Syrian prime minister who defected in 2012. De Mistura is thought to have consulted the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon before making his surprise announcement.
“I have concluded frankly that after the first week of preparatory talks there is more work to be done, not only by us but by the stakeholders,” he said. “I have indicated from the first day that I won’t talk for the sake of talking.”
The opposition’s higher negotiations committee sounded more trenchant shortly afterwards when it announced that it would be leaving Geneva on Thursday “and not return until it sees progress on the ground”.
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