Calendar agreed for Syrian polls, Assad’s fate undecided
VIENNA: World diplomats agreed Saturday on a path to Syrian elections in 18 months at talks in Vienna driven by a fresh sense of urgency after the Paris attacks, although the fate of President Bashar Al-Assad remained a sticking point.
The wave of attacks that left nearly 130 dead in Paris dominated the second round of talks to end the war in Syria, spurring delegations from 20 countries and organisations to find common ground despite deep divisions.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said delegates had agreed a transition government in Syria should be set up in six months and elections held in 18 months.
“No one is lying to themselves about the difficulties we are facing, but the determination to find a solution has progressed in 14 days, since the first round of talks in Vienna,” Steinmeier said.
A final statement after the meeting said that the goal was to bring Syrian government and opposition representatives together by January 1.
“This political process has to be accompanied by a ceasefire. That will help to end the bloodshed as quickly as possible and I might add that will help rapidly to define who wants to be considered a terrorist and who is not,” said US Secretary of State John Kerry.
“Make no mistake that resolve has only grownstrongerin thewake of this unspeakable brutality,” Kerry said of the attacks in Paris
No one is lying to themselves about the difficulties we are facing, but the determination to find a solution has progressed in 14 days, since the first round of talks in Vienna.
which were claimed by the Islamic State group operating out of Iraq and Syria.
“It is respect for life and for its possibilities that drove our efforts today in Vienna.”
In almost five years, the war in Syria has left 250,000 dead, sparked a refugee crisis in Europe and birthed the Islamic State group whose actions have hit several nations at the negotiating table in Vienna.
“The impact of this war bleeds into all nations, from the flood of desperate migrants seeking refuge... to the foreign fighters who make their way into Syria ... to self-radicalised fighters living among us, their minds poisoned by Daesh’s propaganda and lies,” said Kerry.
Witnesses said that the gunmen in the Paris attacks had blamed France’s military intervention in Syria against Islamic State ( IS) extremists. — AFP
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister