Syria peace talks start warily
Negotiations between rebels and the government begin with the opposition refusing face-to-face meeting
Syrian rebels began peace talks with the war-torn country’s government on Monday in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, but refused to negotiate face-to-face in the first session.
The talks were touted as the first time armed rebel groups were due to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime since the conflict erupted in 2011 and come a month after Syrian forces delivered the rebels a crushing blow by retaking full control of Aleppo.
But rebel spokesman Yahya al-Aridi said the opposition backed out of the first round of direct talks because of the regime’s continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint area near Damascus.
“The first negotiation session will not be face-to-face because the government hasn’t committed until now to what it signed in the December 30 agreement,” Aridi said, referring to the fragile ceasefire deal brokered by Turkey and Russia.
Although the rebels and regime sat at the same table for the opening of the talks, it remained unclear whether the two sides would negotiate directly later.
The talks also coincide with a rapprochement between regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey, which brokered the current truce after months of US disengagement in the conflict. Several rounds of failed talks in Geneva saw political opposition figures take the lead in negotiating with the regime. But in Astana, the 14-member opposition delegation is composed solely of rebels, with members of the political opposition serving as advisers.
The negotiations have been widely welcomed, but the two sides arrived in Astana with apparently divergent ideas on their aim.
Chief rebel negotiator Mohammad Alloush said in his opening statement that the opposition was focused on bolstering the nationwide truce, but Assad has insisted rebels lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty deal.
“We came here to reinforce the ceasefire as the first phase of this process,” Alloush said in comments broadcast online. “We will not proceed to the next phases until this actually happens on the ground.”
Damascus has also called for a “comprehensive” political solution to a conflict that has killed more than 310,000 and displaced more than half of Syria’s population.
The head of the regime delegation, Syria’s UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari, said in his opening comments he hoped the talks “will reinforce the cessation of hostilities”.
He said the government was keen to separate the rebels from the Islamic State (IS) group and former al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.
“This is not a replacement for the Geneva process,” rebel negotiator Fares Buyush told AFP, referring to the UN-hosted negotiations set to resume in the Swiss city next month.
Delegation spokesman Osama Abu Zeid said the rebels were concerned with “more than just a ceasefire”.
“The issue is putting monitoring, investigation and accountability mechanisms in place,” he said.
“We want these mechanisms so that this doesn’t play out over and over.”
As the sides headed to Astana, three regime air strikes killed nine civilians in rebel-held areas in the central Syrian province of Homs, a monitoring group said.
Although Russia and Turkey back opposing sides, they have worked hand-in-hand to try to secure an end to the brutal war.
The Astana talks will be a major test of this new partnership after Russia and Turkey conducted their first joint air strikes against IS targets in Syria last week.