UN urges Syrian government to attend Geneva talks
GENEVA — The U.N.’s top envoy for Syria said Monday he hopes and expects the Syrian government will show up for “serious talks” with the opposition this week in Geneva, despite reluctance by Damascus officials to commit to the international body’s negotiations process.
The United Nations is scheduled to resume the peace talks between the government and the Syrian opposition in this Swiss city Tuesday. The opposition’s delegation arrived Monday, after publishing a communique last week that said it was ready for talks “without preconditions.”
The government had not yet named a delegation to the talks, and the pro-government newspaper Al-Watan said Damascus would postpone its arrival, citing the opposition’s position that President Bashar Assad must leave at the start of any transitional period that will lead Syria out of nearly seven years of civil war. The paper said the demand was a “hidden condition.”
But, speaking to the Security Council via videoconference, U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said, “Naturally we hope, and indeed expect, that the government will be on its way shortly.”
A diplomatic official close to the negotiations said the U.N. was expecting the government team to arrive late, but meetings between the opposition and de Mistura would begin Tuesday as planned.
The head of the opposition’s delegation, Nasr Hariri, told reporters that the opposition was “ready to negotiate,” and he accused the government of stalling.
“The thing the regime is most afraid of is political negotiations,” Hariri said.
His delegation was expanded last week under Saudi Arabian auspices to include opposition factions seen by Damascus as more palatable for negotiations, including the “Moscow group,” which has resisted calling for Assad’s departure. Hariri said the reformulation removed any excuse for Syria’s government and its chief diplomatic backer, Russia, to avoid the U.N. talks.
Syria’s government has refused to negotiate over Assad’s future in any talks with the opposition. It says it wants to focus on defeating “terrorism,” its byword for armed opponents of the Syrian president.
The talks follow a week of high level meetings that were expected to pave the way for a revival of the stalled diplomatic process. Assad paid a surprise visit to Sochi, Russia, last week to thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for his vital military support.