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Kerry and Lavrov meet to get Syrian peace talks moving Kerry and Lavrov meet to get Syrian peace talks moving
(about 3 hours later)
ZURICH — The fate of Syrian peace talks hung in the balance as Secretary of State John F. Kerry met Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov amid uncertainty about which Syrian opposition groups will be invited to join negotiations scheduled to begin in Geneva next week and which will be excluded. ZURICH — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that neither Russia nor the United States supports a delay in Syrian peace talks due to start next week, though it was not clear whether he and Secretary of State John F. Kerry had succeeded in determining which opposition groups would participate.
The two diplomats stopped in Zurich to talk before going by helicopter through the Alps to the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where hundreds of the globe’s rich and powerful are gathering for the World Economic Forum. Kerry plans to discuss with U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura whether it is possible to have the Syrian government and opposition groups sit down at the negotiating table on Monday as planned. “We are certain that these talks must start in the next few days,” Lavrov told reporters after he and Kerry met in a hotel here in Switzerland’s largest city before they headed to the World Economic Forum in the Alpine ski resort of Davos.
“We will see, we will see,” Lavrov told reporters when asked how confident he was that the talks would commence on time. He added that the final decision will be made by the United Nations, which is sponsoring the talks. “It’s mostly for de Mistura, not for us.” Peace talks between the Syrian government and many rebel and opposition groups are to start Monday in Geneva. But the prospect of a delay looms because the countries organizing the talks have not agreed on which groups constitute legitimate Syrian opposition and which should be designated terrorist outfits, which would be banned from the talks and exempt from a cease-fire.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry urged Russia to press the Syrian government to allow humanitarian groups to get food and medicine to people in need, particularly those in the rebel-held town of Madaya. The United Nations has accused the government of blocking aid to people living in rebel strongholds.
In Davos, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that 400,000 Syrians are trapped in besieged areas.
[Russian airstrikes put Syrian peace talks in doubt][Russian airstrikes put Syrian peace talks in doubt]
Kirby said Kerry and Lavrov also discussed the need to restore a cease-fire in Ukraine and other commitments made in an agreement forged in Minsk, Belarus, as well as ways to respond to North Korea’s recently announced nuclear test. Kerry has been pushing for the talks to start soon to keep the momentum going. The negotiations are supposed to usher in a political transition for Syria that will culminate in the formation of a new government within 18 months. The United States hopes to secure a guarantee that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will cede power, as U.S. forces look to focus on combating the Islamic State militant group, which controls vast territory in Syria and Iraq. But with Russia firmly in Assad’s corner, such a guarantee appears unlikely.
Kerry is one of several senior U.S. officials heading to the annual Davos conference, reflecting the intersection of foreign policy, national security and economic matters. Among the others are Vice President Biden, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry, in his meeting with Lavrov, urged Russia to use its influence with Assad to allow aid workers to deliver food and medicine. They have been unable to reach stricken areas, as a humanitarian crisis spawned by the war continues to spread.
This year, as last, the war in Syria will be under the spotlight. About 400,000 Syrians are trapped in besieged towns, according to estimates by the United Nations, and people in the town of Madaya have starved to death. The United Nations has accused the Assad government of blocking aid to people living among the rebels. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Davos that the need for peace talks is urgent.
A group of 20 countries and organizations, particularly the European Union and the United Nations, is urging the Syrian government to talk with rebel groups as a way to end the civil war and focus on fighting the Islamic State militant organization. But the International Syria Support Group, as it calls itself, has been riven by differences over which of the many rebel groups should be labeled terrorists. That designation means they would be banned from joining the talks and excluded from any cease-fire. The talks are supposed to start a political transition endorsed by the United Nations and eventually lead to the installation of a new government within 18 months. It was a dark beginning to the annual gathering of diplomats, government officials and business leaders in swanky Davos. Among the participants attending the World Economic Forum there were diplomats from Iran and the United States, who recently signed a historic nuclear deal, and Israel and Saudi Arabia, who fear that the accord empowers Iran in a way that threatens their security.
But there are different lists of excluded terrorists. The list backed by Russia and Iran, the two countries offering military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is far different from the list backed by the United States and Europe. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has its own, narrower list of rebel groups. In the keynote speech at the conference, Vice President Biden said the unraveling of the middle class in the United States and other countries threatens economic growth and global security.
The United Nations says it cannot issue invitations until everyone agrees on who will participate, so the talks may have to start later than planned. But a delay could threaten the momentum that Kerry has been driving for, hoping to stop the bloodshed and curb waves of refugees fleeing the region for safety in Europe. “When people feel that their shot at a decent life is dashed, is eliminated, the inevitable human reaction is anxiety, frustration and anger, providing fertile terrain for reactionary politicians, demagogues peddling xenophobia, anti-immigration, nationalist, isolationist views,” he said. “It begins to shred our social fabric in each of our countries. It stirs instability.”
Earlier this week, Ban, the U.N. secretary general, urged the countries attempting to broker the peace talks to try harder so the dialogue can begin. Biden said he sees the threat materializing in emerging third parties in Europe and in a U.S. presidential primary campaign that he described as “the most unusual political campaign I have been engaged in.”
The Syrian issue is unlikely to be resolved in the snowy resort of Davos. Biden and Kerry joined several other senior U.S. officials at the Davos forum this year, reflecting the intersection of foreign policy, national security and economic matters. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman also are in attendance.
Kerry heads this weekend to Saudi Arabia to attend a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council and meet with King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. Part of his task will be to again assure the nervous governments around the Persian Gulf that the United States will not abandon them for a new relationship with Iran. Then he will go to Asia for meetings with officials in Laos, Cambodia and China, where he is expected to address concerns about North Korea. Almost certainly, the week will be far less triumphal for Kerry compared with last weekend, which was marked by the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and the release, after 14 months of secret negotiations, of five Americans imprisoned in Iran.
[Freed Americans reunited with family members] Senior State Department officials said Kerry plans to give a speech on Friday focusing on the diplomatic achievements of the Obama administration, particularly in the past year. He will cite the nuclear agreement, an international climate change pact in Paris, the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the officials said.
Almost certainly, the week will be far less triumphal for Kerry compared with last weekend, which was marked by the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, which he played a central role in negotiating, and the release, after 14 months of secret negotiations, of five Americans imprisoned in Iran.
Senior State Department officials said Kerry plans to give a speech on Friday focusing on the diplomatic achievements of the Obama administration, particularly in the past year. He will cite the nuclear deal, an international climate change pact in Paris, the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the officials said.
“Frankly, things are not as bad as the press would have us believing,” an aide said in highlighting the Kerry speech. “It has been a very good run over the last six months, and I think he wants to make sure that people are aware of that.”“Frankly, things are not as bad as the press would have us believing,” an aide said in highlighting the Kerry speech. “It has been a very good run over the last six months, and I think he wants to make sure that people are aware of that.”
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