Kerry: Assad supporters must press regime to end obstruction
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Version 0 of 1. Secretary of state John Kerry has responded to the breakdown of Syria peace talks in Geneva on Saturday, calling on “the regime’s supporters” in the international community to press the government of Bashar al-Assad, as “in the end, they will bear responsibility if the regime continues with its intransigence in the talks and its brutal tactics on the ground.” Earlier on Sunday the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said the US had tried to “create a very negative climate for dialogue in Geneva”. His comments were carried by the state news service as the Syrian delegation was returning from Switzerland to Damascus. In a statement, Kerry said: “The international community understands that the primary purpose of our diplomacy is to discuss the full implementation of the Geneva communique, including the creation of a transitional governing body. The Syrian people deserve no less. We call on the regime’s supporters to press the regime.” On Saturday the United Nations mediator in the talks, Lakhdar Brahimi, said his proposal for another round of talks had been blocked by the Assad regime. “Unfortunately, the government has refused,” he said. “I think it is better that every side goes back and reflects on their responsibility [and if] they want this process to continue or not. It’s not good for the process, it’s not good for Syria that we come back for another round and fall back into the same traps that we have been struggling with.” On Sunday, Brahimi said: “I am very, very sorry, and I apologise to the Syrian people that their hopes which were very, very high that something will happen here.” The crisis in Syria grew out of largely peaceful protests against Assad in March 2011, later degenerating into a civil war in which more than 130,000 people have been killed. The UN’s human rights office said in January it has stopped updating the death toll from the war, confirming that it can no longer verify the sources of information that led to its last count, of at least 100,000 in late July 2013. Washington is backing the opposition in the conflict; Russia is prominent among the supporters of the Assad government. In his statement on Sunday, Kerry said: “None of us are surprised that the talks have been hard, and that we are at a difficult moment, but we should all agree that the Assad regime’s obstruction has made progress even tougher. “It was an example to all the world that while the regime obstructed and filibustered, the opposition demonstrated a courageous and mature seriousness of purpose and willingness to discuss all aspects of the conflict. They put forward a viable and well reasoned roadmap for the creation of a transitional governing body and a viable path by which to move the negotiations forward.” He added: “The opposition delegation has regularly demonstrated that they are willing to engage constructively in the interests of all the Syrian people. In sharp contrast, we have seen a refusal to engage on the part of the regime. While it stalled in Geneva, the regime intensified its barbaric assault on its civilian population with barrel bombs and starvation.” The Associated Press contributed to this report |