Opposition meeting in Riyadh fails to agree on Al Assad’s fate
UN Syria envoy wants to develop a more ‘pragmatic’ negotiating strategy after rounds unsuccessful talks
Ameeting between Syrian opposition groups in Riyadh has ended in stalemate, a member said yesterday, with the fate of President Bashar Al Assad still an obstacle in forming a unified front for peace talks.
The Saudi-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) began discussions on Monday with delegations from two other moderate camps, the so-called Cairo and Moscow groupings, in a bid to reach consensus on a joint negotiating strategy.
After hosting seven rounds of largely unsuccessful talks, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura had sought to unify the opposition for what he hopes will be a substantive round of negotiations in October.
“The representatives of the Moscow grouping refused to recognise any text that referred to the Syrian people’s demand for the departure of Bashar alAssad,” said Ahmad Ramadan of the National Coalition, a leading component of the HNC.
Stalemate
“There was an important level of understanding between HNC and the Cairo grouping, but the stalemate with Moscow group delegates hampered efforts to bring representatives... into a single negotiating delegation.”
There was no immediate comment from the so-called Moscow group.
Al Assad’s fate has long been a key sticking point, with the HNC insisting on his ouster but the other two camps adopting a softer stance.
De Mistura said last week that he hopes for “real” peace talks between the government and a still-to-be-formed unified Syrian opposition in October.
Rebels have suffered heavy territorial losses since peace talks to end the war began, including the regime’s recapture of second city Aleppo, a former opposition stronghold.
With the rebel fighting position weakened, experts say the regime faces no pressure to make concessions at the negotiating table, and especially not over the question of Al Assad’s future.
‘Pragmatic’ approach
De Mistura has sought to unify the opposition to develop a more “pragmatic” negotiating strategy after hosting seven rounds of largely unsuccessful talks.
With the rebel fighting position weakened, experts say the regime faces no pressure to make concessions at the negotiating table, and especially not over the question of Al Assad’s future.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan said yesterday that the next talks to try to thrash out a Syria peace plan in its capital Astana may be held in mid-September, after Russia had planned to hold them in late August.
He did not give a precise date for the full Astana talks. Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry said the timing of the talks would be set at a meeting this month between experts from Russia, Turkey and Iran and “provisionally, we could be talking about mid-September”.
Diplomatic chief Kairat Abdrakhmanov said that the date change was based on “information received from Russia.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists in Moscow on Monday that the expert-level meeting would be held “by the end of the month or right.