Los Angeles Times

Syrian government says it’s ready for talks

Damascus insists it must know in advance whether ‘terrorist groups’ will be there.

- By Nabih Bulos Bulos is a special correspond­ent.

BEIRUT — The Syrian government declared Saturday that it is ready to attend peace talks scheduled in Geneva this month, but said it would insist on receiving the names of opposition figures who will be part of the negotiatio­ns.

Walid Moallem, Syria’s foreign minister, told a United Nations envoy during a meeting in Damascus that the government needs to know in advance whether “terrorist groups” will be participat­ing in the meetings, according to the Syrian news agency SANA.

The Geneva negotiatio­ns are the first step in a road map laid out last year by the internatio­nal community to end the Syrian civil war. The nearly five-year conflict has killed an estimated 250,000 people and created a massive refugee crisis in the region as well as in Europe.

The road map, which was adopted unanimousl­y by the U.N. Security Council in December, calls for a nationwide ceasefire between the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad and the armed rebels pitted against him.

It is to culminate in “credible, inclusive and nonsectari­an governance,” constituti­onal reform and U.N.-supervised elections within 18 months. The fate of Assad remains unclear.

But the road map also seeks to determine which of the many opposition parties will participat­e in the conference, while excluding those deemed to be terrorist organizati­ons — a difficult task in light of the Syrian government’s dismissal of the opposition as “terrorists” and “mercenarie­s,” as well as the sectarian nature of many rebel factions on the ground.

It also outlines several confidence-building measures, including the cessation of the indiscrimi­nate use of shelling and aerial bombardmen­t against civilians, safe and voluntary refugee transfer, and unfettered access for humanitari­an agencies to besieged areas of Syria.

Previous attempts at jump-starting peace talks have failed because of what was viewed as the government’s intransige­nce regarding rebel participat­ion.

The government, according to regional analyst Mouin Rabbani, speaking in a phone interview from the Jordanian capital, Amman, has given conditions “that were very extremely difficult for the U.N. to meet.”

“From the government’s point of view, they’re not keen on negotiatio­ns anyway,” Rabbani said.

The most effective rebel groups, mostly hard-line Islamist groups, have advocated an Islamist system of governance in Syria and have displayed little interest in negotiatio­ns unless Assad’s departure is guaranteed.

The talks face another stumbling block in soaring tensions between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, both of which have been instrument­al in exacerbati­ng the sectarian element of the conflict.

Iran’s Shiite leadership has backed Assad, a member of the Alawite sect that is related to Shiite Islam.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has funneled money and materiel to the Sunnidomin­ated insurgency arrayed against Assad.

Early this month, Saudi Arabia executed an influentia­l Shiite cleric, enraging Iran and leading to a cutoff of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, however, has insisted that the row will not affect the Syrian peace talks.

Iran has similarly called for calm, while diplomatic efforts from Iraq and Oman continue to encourage a reconcilia­tion between the two countries.

U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura, after his meeting with the Syrian foreign minister in Damascus, said through a spokesman’s statement that the meeting was “useful” and that he is “looking forward to the active participat­ion of relevant parties in the Geneva talks.”

Opposition leaders have expressed doubts that the negotiatio­ns will be held this month.

“I don’t at all see that the proposed date is a realistic one, especially since on the ground there were no confidence-building measures,” opposition member George Sabra said in a phone interview Saturday.

He cited the situation in Madaya, a town with an estimated population of 40,000 located 25 miles northwest of Damascus that has been besieged by pro-government forces since July. Aid organizati­ons said at least 23 people have died in the town as a result of starvation. Others put the toll much higher.

“The issue of Madaya has become a key point. The Syrian cannot go to negotiatio­ns while Syrians are dying of hunger and cold,” Sabra said.

“If the U.N. cannot deliver a food basket to Madaya, then how can we believe that the U.N. will lead a political solution?” he said.

On Thursday, the Syrian government said it would allow aid to enter Madaya in the coming week. Pawel Krzysiek, spokesman for the Internatio­nal Community of the Red Cross in Damascus, said in a tweet Saturday that the operation would not start before Monday.

Madaya has become a media battlegrou­nd for the warring parties in Syria. Opposition activists have uploaded horrific pictures and videos depicting cadaverous children subsisting on water and spices. The furor also has affected the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, an ally of the Assad government, which is accused of perpetrati­ng what Madaya residents have described as a nightmare.

But Syrian pro-government media and Hezbollah supporters say much of the images are fake and part of a plan to turn what is a “military situation into a fabricated humanitari­an crisis,” according to Amin Hateet, a political analyst who was designated to discuss the matter by Hezbollah’s media office in Beirut.

Hateet also accused rebel fighters bunkered in Madaya of holding civilians hostage, barring their exit from the town. “There is exaggerati­on in this matter, so as to blackmail and slander Hezbollah,” he said.

 ?? Youssef Badawi
European Pressphoto Agency ?? U.N. ENVOY Staffan de Mistura, center left, called his meeting with Syria’s foreign minister “useful.”
Youssef Badawi European Pressphoto Agency U.N. ENVOY Staffan de Mistura, center left, called his meeting with Syria’s foreign minister “useful.”

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