Syrian Opposition Factions Resume Riyadh Meeting on Peace Talks

A group of Syria's opposition resumed discussions in the Saudi capital on Wednesday to decide whether to join peace talks in Geneva.

Speaking to AFP in Riyadh, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Monzer Makhous, said the talks could last "perhaps all day".

United Nations-brokered talks, now scheduled to begin on Friday, have been delayed since Monday over who will represent the opposition.

The Riyadh-backed grouping insists it should be the sole opposition delegation.

But several opposition figures who do not belong to the body told AFP on Tuesday they had been invited to the talks.

A source close to the Riyadh meeting said the body had received invitations to Geneva, but discussion on whether to participate was ongoing.

"The response will be a request for clarifications and not an acceptance or rejection," he told AFP, adding that the body wanted to know who else had been invited and under what terms, as well as what would be discussed.

HNC member Salem al-Meslet said the "climate is positive".

The HNC was seeking "clarifications (from the UN) concerning some issues, particularly humanitarian issues", he said.

The office of UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said it had issued invitations to the talks but declined to say who had been invited to represent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition groups.
Source: AFP
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27/1/16
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•     The co-leader of the Syrian Democratic Council, Haytham Manna, on Wednesday he would not take part in peace talks in Geneva unless two Kurdish leaders, Saleh Muslim and Ilham Ahmed, were also invited to participate...

"I'll go with my friends or not [at all]. There is no compromise in this question," Manna told Reuters a day after the UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, sent invitations to join the talks, without including the Kurdish leaders.

"We have one day and tomorrow perhaps also to negotiate all of these things with the Russians, the Americans and de Mistura's staff. We'll see if they accept our opinion, our view to have really a strong and representative delegation, we are ready to go."

Deciding who among Syria's fractured opposition should attend the talks has become the main stumbling block to the first attempt at a peace negotiation in two years. There is no sign of an end to the war pitting a range of rebel groups against President Bashar al-Assad's government after almost five years and more than 250,000 deaths.

Manna is not part of the main opposition delegation, which was formed at a meeting in Saudi Arabia and has yet to say if it will take part in the peace talks. Its leaders have said Syria must stop bombing civilian areas and allow humanitarian aid access before any peace negotiations can take place...RUTERS...todayszaman.com