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Friction Grows Between Two Sides in Syria Talks Syrian Talks Veer Toward Collapse as Two Sides Spar
(about 2 hours later)
GENEVA — New doubts emerged on Friday about whether the Syrian government and opposition representatives would engage in direct talks at the United Nations building here, as both sides sent conflicting signals about their willingness to continue the negotiations. GENEVA — The Syrian peace conference teetered toward collapse on Friday as the government delegation threatened to bolt while the opposition complained that the government side was not fully committed to the framework of the talks.
On the third day of talks aimed at ending Syria’s civil war, a senior Syrian official declared that Mr. Assad’s government was committed to the framework for the meeting, while the country’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said the government delegation might leave Saturday unless “serious” talks began immediately. United Nations officials had hoped to hold a face-to-face meeting between the government and the opposition on Friday, the third day of talks aimed at ending Syria’s war. When that failed, Syrian government officials said they would leave if the meeting was not rescheduled for the next day.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the chief United Nations mediator and special envoy on Syria, met for about an hour with the government’s delegation and was to meet later in the afternoon with representatives of the opposition in a second day of separate talks with the parties to attempt to bring about face-to-face negotiations. At the same time, members of the opposition complained that the government side was divided, particularly on the question of discussing the formation of a transitional government.
A wide gap remained between the delegations, with the opposition demanding that the government formally confirm that it accepts the protocols set out at an earlier conference known as Geneva 1, which calls for a fully empowered transitional governing body to be formed by “mutual consent.” “This is not a juggernaut,” said Oubai Shahbandar, an adviser to the opposition coalition. “There are serious splits in the government delegation.”
Syria’s government accepts the Geneva 1 communiqué, or else it would not be in Geneva, and is ready to begin negotiations, Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Fayssal Mekdad, told reporters as he arrived for talks a meeting with Mr. Brahimi. He said that every time the Syrian Foreign Ministry representatives said anything that indicated movement toward compromise, those directly representing President Bashar al-Assad countered with a harder line.
Brief hopes had arisen late Thursday that the two sides might be back on track for direct talks, but the opposition delegation then said that could not happen until the government accepted the Geneva communiqué. The government delegation and its supporters retorted that the opposition was shifting position, as plans seesawed about whether the two sides would sit down in the same room in the United Nations offices in Geneva.
The crux of the gap between the two sides is the protocol for the meeting, set out in a June 2012 agreement known as Geneva 1. The opposition demands that the government formally confirm that it accepts the protocol, which calls for a fully empowered transitional governing body to be formed by “mutual consent.”
On Friday morning, the Syrian deputy foreign minister, Fayssal Mekdad, told reporters that the delegation was in Geneva to implement Geneva 1, otherwise it would not have come. But Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Mr. Assad, told the BBC that, “By coming here we acknowledge the Geneva communiqué, but not all of it. It’s not a bible.”
Later, the foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, told Syrian state television that his team would leave Saturday if “serious” talks did not begin, saying the government was ready and the opposition was not.
Opposition members said their team changed its mind when the contradictory statements emerged from the government on Friday morning. But it was unclear how committed they had been to the face-to-face encounter. Louay Safi, a spokesman for the opposition delegation, had already said Thursday night that the two sides would sit in separate rooms on Friday, with Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy who is mediating the talks, shuttling back and forth.
“Yesterday we slept expecting a meeting today,” said a Syrian journalist who supports the government and is in close touch with its delegation. But he said the delegation woke up to a phone call from Mr. Brahimi telling them that the opposition was not ready to meet.
The journalist said that Mr. Moallem told Mr. Brahimi, “We are going through children’s games. If they are really serious let’s put some pressure, otherwise, let’s not waste your time and our time.”
The journalist added, “it’s useless to stay, we are not staying here in a kindergarten. When we agree on something we have to stick on it.”
Mr. Brahimi told American officials the talks were “delayed” but that he still planned to meet with both sides together, the State Department said in a statement, adding that it deferred to him on the timing and expected ups and downs.
Mr. Brahimi was meeting with the Syrian opposition delegation on Friday afternoon, after a morning meeting of about an hour with the government side. He was expected to address journalists at 5:30 p.m. local time.
Demonstrators held the flags of the Syrian opposition and signs reading “Your silence is killing children” outside the Palace of Nations, the United Nations headquarters here, as the talks went on inside.Demonstrators held the flags of the Syrian opposition and signs reading “Your silence is killing children” outside the Palace of Nations, the United Nations headquarters here, as the talks went on inside.
It remained unclear whether any rebel commanders would show up for the talks. Jamal Maarouf, the head of the Syrian Revolutionary Front, the lone group that had committed unambiguously to attending, said in an interview on Friday morning that none of his representatives were in Geneva yet. It remained unclear whether any rebel commanders would show up for the talks to counter the widespread impression that the opposition coalition has no connection to fighters on the ground. Jamal Maarouf, the head of the Syrian Revolutionary Front, the lone group that had committed unambiguously to attending, said in an interview on Friday morning that none of his representatives were in Geneva yet
While the atmosphere indoors continued to be acrimonious and uncertain, outside the building there were calls for compromise, even from diehard supporters of the uprising.
Under bright sun on the plaza in front of the United Nations headquarters here in Geneva, young Syrian men, their arms around each other’s shoulders, sang a dirge commonly heard at anti-government rallies in Syria. “Mothers of the martyrs, never fear,” they chanted. “Mothers of the martyrs, we are with you. The gates of heaven are opening for your sons.”
Nearby, Marie-Therese Kiriaky, from Damascus but living in Germany, held a sign calling for peace. “We are the people whose voices are never heard,” she said. “Enough is enough. This is the biggest massacre in this century, and it is a shame on humanity that the world doesn’t react.”
Although she said she would not accept President Assad staying in power, she said the first priority was a ceasefire.
As a Syrian Christian, she said, she rejected Assad’s claim to be a protector of a secular order. “They have destroyed Maaloula” — an ancient Christian town where Aramaic is still spoken — “and more than 350,000 Christians have left Syria, and he claims to be protecting us? We don’t want his protection. If he is protecting us because we are Christians, enough, we will convert to Muslims.”
She said both government shelling and insurgent attacks were responsible for destroying Maaloula, but that “state violence is the most dangerous.”
She said Syrian Christians were divided, like most Syrians. A third of them, the intellectuals, oppose Mr. Assad, she said, while another third, mainly those who benefit from his rule, support him, and another third do not know what to do.
“They are really scared,” she said.