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Syrian opposition sets new conditions for peace talks Chaotic run-up to Syria peace talks reflects enormous gap
(about 5 hours later)
BEIRUT — One of the main Syrian opposition blocs said Wednesday that it was unlikely to attend Geneva peace talks this week unless progress is made toward lifting sieges in the country and other conditions are met, adding that it was awaiting clarifications from the U.N. envoy. BEIRUT — The invitations are sent and preparations are underway at the U.N.’s Palais des Nations in Geneva, where the first peace talks in two years on the conflict in Syria are to begin Friday.
The announcement cast further uncertainty on peace talks scheduled to begin in two days. But two days before the talks, it is unclear who will attend — or even if the U.N. special envoy to Syria will be able to move the needle on any of the thorny issues on the agenda to help end the war that has killed 250,000 people in the last five years.
Expectations are already low for any breakthroughs during talks that U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura has described as the start of a drawn-out process of consultation between various parties to the conflict, rather than actual peace negotiations. In the chaotic run-up to the talks, the warring sides and their international backers have bickered over who should be present and what should be discussed, with some threatening to boycott if their conditions are not met.
Khaled Nasser, a member of the Syrian National Coalition — one of the main opposition groups in the bloc — said Wednesday that he believed negotiations with limited ambitions would “waste time.” The drama continued Wednesday with a major opposition bloc saying it would only join the talks if progress is made toward lifting sieges on blockaded towns in Syria and implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions on other humanitarian issues. The Saudi-backed bloc known as the Higher Negotiating Committee was meeting to make a final decision on whether to go to Geneva.
“Friday was never going to be the start of negotiations,” said Nasser. “De Mistura said it is for consultations and discussions.... We don’t want to waste time with consultations and discussions.” The wrangling has cast uncertainty on the talks, which already are generating very low expectations. The process is aimed at getting the sides to discuss implementing a national cease-fire and a political transition ending in elections.
Still, the group was meeting in Riyadh for a second day Wednesday to make a final decision. Here’s a look at who’s invited, who’s not, and how the talks will proceed:
The talks are intended to start a political process to end the conflict that began in 2011 as a largely peaceful uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad but escalated into an all-out war after a harsh state crackdown. The plan calls for cease-fires in parallel to the talks, a new constitution and elections in a year and a half.
In a sign of the complexity of the task, de Mistura said the delegations in Geneva would initially be sitting in separate rooms and he would shuttle between them.
Tensions have also flared over who would be invited to the talks, and the opposition has demanded confidence-building measures from the government on humanitarian issues.
In a statement released at the end of daylong meetings in Saudi Arabia late Tuesday, the opposition coalition known as the Higher Negotiating Committee referred to the “necessity of realizing genuine improvements on the ground before starting in the negotiating process.”
The Saudi-backed committee is headed by Riyad Hijab, a former prime minister who defected to the opposition in 2012. It represents a bloc that includes the Syrian National Coalition and many of the major rebel factions fighting in Syria.
The bloc outlined its conditions for participating in the talks in a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon. While the group left open the possibility of its eventual participation, it said it awaits a reply from him on its conditions.
The opposition has also accused Russia, a key backer of the Syrian government, of trying to “dictate” who from the opposition would participate.
Moscow has insisted on the participation of the main Syrian Kurdish group — the Democratic Union Party, or PYD — which plays an important role in fighting the Islamic State group and is an essential part of any political settlement in Syria.
Turkey, a major backer of the rebels, sees the PYD and its YPG militia as branches of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the PKK, which has waged a long insurgency against Ankara. Turkey has threatened to withdraw its support for the talks if the PYD is represented.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France-Culture radio on Wednesday that the PYD was not invited.
“The PYD group, the Kurdish group, was causing the most problems, and Mr. de Mistura told me he had not sent them an invitation letter,” Fabius said.
Saleh Muslim, the co-president of the PYD, was in the Swiss city of Lausanne Wednesday. Kurdish officials said he was invited by the Swiss government to serve as an adviser to the talks.
Another veteran opposition figure, Haitham Manna, who was also in Lausanne, suggested he would boycott the talks unless the PYD was invited.
“The Syrian (opposition) delegation must be represented very strongly to enable it to defend the Syrian people’s interest,” he told the Associated Press Wednesday. “If they accept to give us this possibility for a delegation that is Syrian — not Russian, not Saudi, not Turkish, not Qatari — then we are ready to do our best,” said Manna, who heads the Syrian Democratic Council, an opposition group that includes the PYD.
Fabius said the Riyadh-backed Higher Negotiating Committee should be the primary negotiator for the rebels.
The Riyadh bloc is a broad coalition that includes several armed Islamic groups, such as the powerful Jaish al-Islam, which the Russian and Syrian governments consider a terrorist group. It does not, however, include the Islamic State group or the Nusra Front, two militant factions that control large areas of Syria and are not participating in peace talks.
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Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris and Bassam Hatoum in Lausanne, Geneva, contributed to this report. WHO IS INVITED?
U.N. special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura has sent invitations without making them public because of sensitivities surrounding participation. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying de Mistura invited Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem as well as Riyad Hijab, the head of the opposition’s Higher Negotiating Committee, the bloc that includes rebel and civilian opposition groups.
Arab media said de Mistura invited 15 delegates from each side. He also invited Russia-backed Syrian opposition figures including Qadri Jamil, a former Syrian deputy prime minister; civil society groups; women; and independents. Among the independents is former Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi, who said he won’t be at the first round of talks to help ease intense wrangling and because the formation of the Syrian opposition delegation has been marred by troubles.
The opposition delegation is headed by Syrian army defector Asaad al-Zoubi and includes Mohammad Alloush, who represents a powerful Islamic rebel group known as Jaish al-Islam, or the Army of Islam. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Syria and Russia.
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WHO IS NOT INVITED?
The largest Kurdish group in Syria, the Democratic Union Party or PYD, is not invited; neither are the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, two militant factions that control large parts of Syria.
The PYD’s participation has emerged as the biggest sticking point ahead of the talks. Its military wing has been instrumental in the fight in northern Syria against IS militants, and Russia insists it should be present. But Turkey, which has its own restive Kurdish population and views the group as a terrorist organization, strongly opposes any PYD participation and threatened to withdraw its support for the talks if it is invited.
In the end, de Mistura did not extend an official invitation to leaders of the group, but its leader, Saleh Muslim, was in Lausanne on Wednesday. Kurdish officials said he was invited by the Swiss government to serve as an adviser to the talks. Haitham Manna, a veteran Syrian opposition figure, suggested he would boycott the talks unless the PYD was invited.
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HOW WILL THE TALKS PROCEED?
Unlike talks in Geneva two years ago when government and opposition delegations faced off, de Mistura says he plans to keep them apart in separate rooms, with “a lot of shuttling” in between. He said Monday he is aiming for “proximity talks” that start Friday and go for six months on a staggered basis. The approach points to the enormous complexities that lie ahead.
One of the suggestions has been to have three rooms at the Palais des Nations: one for the government delegation and two for the opposition to include both the Saudi and Russian-backed opposition. Khaled Nasser, an opposition figure, said he believed negotiations with such limited ambitions would “waste time.”
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WHAT DO OTHER COUNTRIES SAY?
The U.S. and Russia agree on the need to get the two sides talking about Syria’s future but are split on most other issues.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey, both key backers of the rebels, supported the formation of the opposition delegation that includes Islamic rebels.
Russia, a main backer of the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, has lobbied for other representatives to be there, including those that the Saudi bloc considers to be too close to Assad and the PYD.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the Higher Negotiating Committee should be the primary negotiator for the rebels.
Iran, another main backer of Assad, is among the 17 nations that support the process, but it has not voiced much opinion on the formation of the delegations.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.