Still, Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters at a news conference in Geneva that did not mean all hopes for a peace conference on Syria were dashed. "(We) are still striving to see if we can have the conference before the end of the year," he said.
The diplomatic talks among world powers in Geneva at the U.N.'s elegant Palais des Nations contrasted sharply with the heavy shelling and missile attacks being waged in a civil war that both sides still believe they might win militarily.
Diplomats ran into repeated roadblocks Tuesday. The world powers strongly disagreed over what diplomatic steps to take to resolve the fighting and what any future Syrian leadership beyond President Bashar Assad's government should look like. Assad's government signaled it was not ready to negotiate handing over power, while his main ally Russia insisted, once again, that pro-Assad Iran must be part of any talks on a war whose death count officially surpassed 100,000 more than three months ago. The United Nations, meanwhile, announced that as many as 40 percent of Syrians now need humanitarian aid.
The Syrian war has left over 9 million citizens in need of humanitarian aid, including 6.5 million people who are now internally displaced, said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"They're staggering, it's a disaster, and it continues," Laerke said. Brahimi and Jeff Feltman, the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for political affairs, met with senior Russian and U.S. officials to see if a U.N.-sponsored peace conference bringing together Assad's government and a united opposition delegation could be convened this year. The circle expanded for a second meeting with three permanent members of the U.N.'s 15-nation Security Council - Britain, France, China.
By late afternoon, it expanded again to include four of Syria's neighbors - Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq - nations that are struggling to cope with a conflict that has produced more than 2.1 million Syrian refugees. Diplomats were trying to resume negotiations that created the roadmap for a Syrian political transition adopted last year in Geneva. The plan starts with establishing a transitional governing body with full executive powers agreed to by both sides and ends with elections.
But there has been no general agreement on how to implement it and one of the main sticking points remains Assad's future role. Syria's information minister said the government delegation is not ready to negotiate handing over power.
Members of the exiled and Western-backed opposition group, meanwhile, insist that Assad be excluded from Syria's future leadership for any talks to take place. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told a news conference in Warsaw,
Poland, that the Assad government knows a second peace conference in Geneva would put the roadmap in place. "I don't know how anybody believes the opposition is going to give mutual consent to Assad to continue," Kerry said.
"And the Syrian government has accepted to come to Geneva, so I am hoping the Syrian government, the Russians, the Iranians and others who support the Syrian regime will make certain the Syrian regime will live up to its obligation to come to Geneva to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Syria."
Russia, meanwhile, said that Iran must take part, reiterating a longtime demand that could make it more difficult to organize the talks. The Syrian opposition has opposed Iran's involvement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday rejected a statement by Syrian National Coalition leader Ahmad al-Jarba, who said his coalition wouldn't attend the talks if Iran is invited, as a "provocation." He said the conference must be called without any preconditions.
http://en.ria.ru/world/20131105/184534666/UN-Envoy-No-Deal-on-Syrian-Peace-Talks-Date.html
5/11/13
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Brahimi: U.S. blocks Iran role at Syria talks...
ReplyDeleteNegotiators have failed to reach an agreement on whether Iran should be invited to Syria peace talks in Geneva next month, U.N. and Arab League envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said Friday.
Brahimi said the delegations to the Geneva 2 conference have been agreed upon except for Iran.
The U.N. Syria envoy said the conference will include Saudi Arabia, but the United States remains unconvinced that Iran's participation “would be the right thing to do.”
“On Iran, we haven't agreed yet. It's no secret that we in the United Nations welcome the participation of Iran, but our partners in the United States are still not convinced that Iran's participation would be the right thing to do,” he said in statements carried by Agence France-Presse.
A senior U.S. official said on Friday it was “difficult to imagine” Iran attending Syrian peace talks next month as it had not endorsed the June 2012 communique calling for a transitional government and was providing military support to Damascus.
The official said talks would continue with Brahimi and other states on Iran's participation in the peace
talks, but there were many ways for Tehran to take part and this was only the beginning of the process.
“Iran in this instance is the only country that has put its own military people into the fight on the ground, that is a unique position,” the senior U.S. official said.
Brahimi’s statements to reporters came after a Friday meeting with U.S. and Russian delegations to try to agree which nations should be invited.
The veteran mediator’s intensive shuttle diplomacy between Geneva, the Middle East and the capitals of world powers last month helped finally set Jan. 22 as the start date for talks in Switzerland.
Iran is the main backer, along with Russia, of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a conflict that has lasted more than two and a half years, killed more than 126,000 people and uprooted millions more.
Tehran has said it would attend Geneva 2 if invited.
‘Useless‘
Meanwhile, French President François Hollande said Friday that Geneva 2 would be “useless” if Assad remains the head of state.
Being asked to attend Geneva 2 “can’t be an objective, a satisfaction,” Hollande said while briefly discussing the Syrian conflict with other leaders during the European Summit.
“If Geneva 2 has to be the confirmation for Bashar al-Assad or the political transition from Assad to Assad, than there are few chances that we approve of this meeting as the political solution to the Syrian issue,” Hollande said.......http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/12/20/Brahimi-Washington-blocks-Iran-role-at-Syria-talks.html
21/12/13
Russia criticizes UN Security Council’s draft statement on Syria ...
ReplyDeleteMoscow has drawn attention to the fact that the US does not utter a word about crimes committed by the Syrian opposition on its proposed UN Security Council statement on the latest act of terror in Aleppo. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry says that Russian amendments to the documents were rejected, and as a result, the document was withdrawn.
On December 18, the American delegation submitted the UN Security Council’s draft statement to press on the latest act of terror in Aleppo. The statement for one, expresses outrage against air strikes by Syrian government forces, especially the use of heavy weapons, including Skud missiles, says the Russian Foreign Ministry on its commentary posted on the website.
At the same time, the document does not utter a word about crimes committed by the armed opposition, including the use of civilians as a human shield to defend its positions at settlements, strikes on medical facilities and infrastructure facilities, the commentary emphasized.
The Foreign Ministry says that the Russian representatives pointed that the document was drafted on the basis of media reports and unnamed “human rights activists”, but the real circumstances are unclear.
“The American delegation presented a draft statement of the UNSC. The Russian delegation proposed amendments, which were aimed at making the document a more balanced nature, but the US representatives rejected them,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. As a result, the draft statement was withdrawn.
Read more: http://indian.ruvr.ru/news/2013_12_20/Russia-criticizes-UN-Security-Council-s-draft-statement-on-Syria-4877/
21/12/13
Syrian gov't delegates to peace conference finalized: Brahimi....
ReplyDeleteGENEVA, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- The delegation of the Syrian government to the international conference on Syria planned for next month was formed while that of oppositions was not yet, said the special envoy for Syria Friday.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations-Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria, made the remarks at a press conference after the trilateral preparation talks on the Syria peace talks between the UN, Russia and the United States and meetings with five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Syria's neighboring countries, the European Union (EU) and the League of Arab States held Friday.
Brahimi said the Syrian government has officially informed them that their delegation have been formed, and were expected to publicize the name list soon.
As for the Syrian oppositions, the envoy said they met representatives with the Syrian National Coalition and were notified that the coalition were reaching out to others inside and outside Syria, but they would not form their delegation before Dec. 27.
He stressed again that the delegation need to be "credible", hoping it to be as representative as possible.
Brahimi appealed for the warring parties in Syria to demonstrate their devotion to the upcoming peace talks.
"We hope that now that we have a date for the conference, the parties will unilaterally take a number of decisions as measures to indicate that they are coming to Geneva to end this conflict," he said.
Other participants to the long-delayed Syria peace-talk have been decided except Iran, whose presence is still undecided.
Brahimi said the United States was still unconvinced that Iran's participation would be "the right thing to do", adding there would be further discussions on the presence of Iran to see if an agreement was possible to be achieved.......http://english.cntv.cn/20131221/100788.shtml
21/12/13
UN envoy says Iran could attend Syria talks....Lakhdar Brahimi says UN and US disagree on whether to invite Iran to planned Geneva conference.....
ReplyDeleteWhether or not Iran will be among the nations invited to attend Syrian peace talks in Switzerland is still a source of disagreement between the UN and the United States, peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said.
Speaking at a news conference in Geneva on Friday, Brahimi underlined that Tehran was not completely off the list of those who would attend Geneva 2, despite US objections.
"On Iran, we haven't agreed yet. It's no secret that we in the United Nations welcome the participation of Iran, but our partners in the United States are still not convinced that Iran's participation would be the right thing," Brahimi told reporters after talks with US and Russian officials.
"We have agreed that we will be talking a little bit more to see if we can come to an agreement about this."...................................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/12/brahimi-says-iran-could-attend-syria-talks-2013122018414791905.html
21/12/13
UN SG says violence in Syria to benefit those who seek armed interference...
ReplyDeleteUNITED NATIONS, December 27, /ITAR-TASS/. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the escalating violence in Syria would only benefit those who were seeking armed interference in the conflict.
“Further escalation of violence will only serve the agendas of those who see military means as the only way forward, at the expense of the Syrian people who have suffered enough already,” Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.
He urged all parties to the conflict to “adhere to international humanitarian and human rights law.”
“All civilians must be protected in any situation,” the statement said.
Ban spoke out against the use of so-called “barrel bombs” - oil drums filled with explosives and shrapnel and dropped by aircraft - which he said are adding “yet another appalling dimension to the fighting.”
He voiced grave concern about the continued and indiscriminate use of heavy weapons and mortar shelling in the ongoing conflict, most recently in hard-hit Aleppo which has been the site of a “barrel bomb” campaign.
More than 100,000 people have already been killed in Syria and 8 million driven from their homes, with 2 million of them seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, since the conflict first erupted in March 2011.
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/713108
27/12/13
MOSCOW, December 27, /ITAR-TASS/. Syria should remain a single state with no threats of terrorist attacks or weapons of mass destruction coming from its territory, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said............
ReplyDeleteIn an interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta he said it was also important to ensure that Syria did not turn into a home base for Al Qaeda and other extremist organisations.
According to Patrushev, this can be achieved by convening an international conference on Syria at the earliest opportunity, with all sides concerned taking a constructive part in it.
“However things are moving with difficulty. The conference cannot be convened at the dates determined initially. Much depends on how much the United States and some other states want and can consolidate the [Syrian] opposition and encourage it to attend this international forum,” he said.
Patrushev stressed that Russia would continue efforts aimed at implementing the Geneva agreements of 2012. “There is the potential for that, and we are working patiently with all influential international partners. The Syrian opposition itself cannot work out a common stance on the main issue - participation in the conference. Some armed groups dominated by foreign mercenaries have opted for continuing the war and rejected the international community’s efforts,” he said.
The goal of Geneva II would be to achieve a political solution to the conflict through a comprehensive agreement between the Government and the opposition for the full implementation of the Geneva communique, adopted after the first international meeting on the issue on June 30, 2012.
The communique lays out key steps in a process to end the violence. Among others, it calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, with full executive powers and made up by members of the present Government and the opposition and other groups, as part of agreed principles and guidelines for a Syrian-led political transition..........................http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/713106
27/12/13