UN suspends Syrian peace talks in Geneva

[Anthea]

The Washington Post

UN envoy lowers expectations ahead of Syria talks on Friday

GENEVA — Lowering expectations about his ability to help end Syria’s civil war, the U.N. special envoy announced talks between government and opposition representatives will start on Friday to embark on a six-month process that he hopes will include civil society and women’s groups.

Staffan di Mistura raised nearly as many questions as he answered in a news conference in Geneva on Monday, the day when talks had originally been set to begin before tensions over who would be invited, involving countries like Russia and Turkey, forced a delay. He also confirmed comments from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last week that the two main sides won’t meet face-to-face initially in the “proximity” talks.

De Mistura insisted he was sticking to Security Council decisions to shun some groups like the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-affiliate Nusra Front, but refused any clarification beyond that. He said invitations would go out Tuesday, but declined to specify his criteria about deciding who receives them.

Link to Full Article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mi ... story.html

[Anthea]

One wonders HOW exactly are these talks going end the
conflict - without the inclusion of the 2 main warring parties

These talks are expected to last for 6 months

Sadly nobody appears overly concerned about the vast number of innocent people who will doubtless lose their lives while overfed politicians and self-proclaimed community leaders become even fatter

[Anthea]

ABC News

Russia Urges for Including Kurds in Syria Talks
By vladimir isachenkov, associated press

Russia on Tuesday argued strongly against Turkey's demand to keep a leading Kurdish group out of Syrian peace talks, and said it expects the U.N. envoy to resist "blackmail" by Turkey and others, reflecting sharp differences that remain ahead of the talks.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also denied allegations that Moscow had urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and could offer him political asylum.

He specifically shrugged off reports last week claiming that Russia's military intelligence chief had traveled to Damascus to try to persuade Assad to go. Lavrov said there was no point in such a trip as Assad visited Moscow in the fall and had extensive talks with President Vladimir Putin.

"No one has asked for or offered any political asylum," he said, adding that Assad had promised Putin he would sit down for peace talks with opposition, including armed groups, and engage the "patriotic" opposition in the fight against the Islamic State group alongside the Syrian army.

Lavrov emphasized that the Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, plays an important role in fighting the Islamic State group and is an essential part of political settlement in Syria.

Turkey sees the PYD and its YPG militia group as branches of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, a Kurdish resistance group it has long fought and considers a terrorist group.

Lavrov warned that it would be a "grave mistake" not to invite the PYD. "How can you talk about political reforms in Syria if you ignore a leading Kurdish party?" he said, adding that the Kurds account for 15 percent of the population.

Lavrov also warned against Saudi Arabia's proposal to invite only opposition groups that it hosted at a meeting last month, saying the Syrian peace process should also include other opposition representatives, like those that met for talks in Moscow last year.

The current opposition negotiating team announced in Saudi Arabia last week includes Saudi-backed Islamic rebel factions like Jaish al-Islam, or the Army of Islam, which Russia considers terrorists.

The nearly five-year Syrian conflict that began in 2011 with protests against Assad's rule, has morphed into an all-out war that has killed a quarter-million and displaced millions.

Lavrov's statement at a news conference reflects the tough posturing ahead of Syria peace talks set to start Friday. U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura will be sending invitations amid intense jockeying between countries like Russia and Turkey about who should be invited.

Russia, a key ally of Assad, has called for the inclusion of Kurdish representatives, and the U.S. and others have supported the Kurds in the fight against IS. Russia's relations with Turkey are at a freezing point after a Turkish fighter jet downed a Russian warplane at the border with Syria in November.

In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday reiterated Turkey's opposition to including Syrian Kurdish forces at the Geneva talks.

"A table without the Kurds would be incomplete. We do not oppose the Kurds but we oppose the PYD and YPG who oppress the Kurds," Davutoglu said in his weekly address to his party's legislators. "It is not acceptable for us for a terror organization to be included within the opposition."

Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in an interview with NTV television, said Turkey would boycott the talks if the PYD were invited.

Lavrov has dismissed the demand by some opposition groups that the Syrian military must lift the siege of some areas before the talks begin, saying that unblocking the besieged areas and delivering humanitarian aid should be an important part of the negotiations.

"There must be no preconditions for starting the talks, and the humanitarian issues must be among the central issues on their agenda," he said, adding that while the plight of the city of Madaya blockaded by Syrian government forces has been widely publicized, a similar situation in government-controlled Deir el-Zour has been largely out of the public eye.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wir ... s-36518745

[Anthea]

Reuters

Syria peace talks derailed as opposition stays away

The Syrian opposition said it will not attend peace talks due to begin in Geneva on Friday, derailing the first attempt in two years to hold negotiations aimed at ending the five-year-long war.

An opposition council convening in Riyadh said its delegation would "certainly" not be in Geneva on Friday, saying it had not received convincing answers to its demands for goodwill steps including an end to air strikes and blockades.

The failure to get talks off the ground on time reflects the challenges facing peace-making as the conflict rages unabated on the ground.

The Syrian government is clawing back territory from rebels with military help from Iran and Russia. It has said it is ready to attend the negotiations, which U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura plans to hold in an indirect format.

Another opposition representative said the delegation might turn up if their demands were met in a day or two, but the chances of that appeared vanishingly slim.

The turn of events is a bitter blow to De Mistura, whose office had issued a video message that he had sent to the Syrian people, in which he said the talks were expected to happen "in the next few days".

A spokeswoman for his office, speaking before the opposition statement, said the talks would begin on Friday as scheduled.

George Sabra, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said: "For certain we will not head to Geneva and there will not be a delegation from the High Negotiations Committee tomorrow in Geneva."

Link to Full Article:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideas ... KKCN0V60WE

[Anthea]

BBC News

Syria peace talks move tentatively into a second day

Talks in Geneva aimed at finding a solution to the conflict in Syria are entering a second official day.

On Monday, UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura held his first formal meeting with the main opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee.

For several days it was unclear whether it would take part in the talks at all.

The HNC has demanded an end to sieges and air strikes on rebel-held areas, as well the release of prisoners, before starting negotiations in earnest.

More than 250,000 people have died in almost five years of war in Syria.

Eleven million others have fled their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and those opposed to his rule battle each other, as well as jihadist militants from so-called Islamic State (IS).

The Syrian government team is expected at the UN headquarters in Geneva, the Palais des Nations, on Tuesday morning; the opposition in the afternoon.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the fact that both sides are participating is being seen as positive, but the opposition is waiting for a sign that the government will respond to its calls for humanitarian measures.

HNC representatives said they received "very positive messages" from Mr de Mistura, but that they were waiting for the outcome of his discussions with government officials on Tuesday before deciding whether to formally join the peace process.

"We are here for a few days. If there [is] no progress on the ground, we are leaving," Monzer Makhous told the Reuters news agency on arrival in Geneva.

"We are not here for negotiations, we are here to test the regime's intentions."

The UN special envoy said the HNC had made the "very strong point" that parallel to any talks, the Syrian people "deserve to hear and see facts on the ground".

"When I meet the Syrian people they tell me: 'Don't just have a conference, have also something that we can see and touch while you are meeting in Geneva,'" Mr de Mistura told reporters.

In an apparent gesture of goodwill, the government agreed on Monday "in principle" to allow more aid to be delivered to the besieged rebel-held town of Madaya, near Damascus, where hundreds of civilians are reportedly suffering from severe malnutrition and several have starved to death.

Aid will also be sent to the northern villages of Foah and Kefraya, which are surrounded by rebel forces.

Elsewhere in Syria the fighting seems to have intensified in recent days, with government forces bombarding several suburbs of the capital and launching an offensive on rebel positions around the northern city of Aleppo.

The talks in Geneva are part of a process outlined in a UN Security Council resolution approved in December, which envisions an 18-month timetable for a political transition in Syria, ending with elections.

Please click on image to enlarge:


Link to Article - Photos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35468695

[Anthea]

BBC News

Syria peace talks: UN envoy says 'concrete changes' needed

UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura has said that "concrete" changes are needed in Syria in order for the peace talks in Geneva to succeed.

Mr de Mistura met government officials on Tuesday on the second day of meetings aimed at ending the conflict.

But talks with the opposition were called off amid complaints of major attacks against rebel forces.

The opposition says it will not negotiate unless the government ends its sieges and air strikes on rebels.

More than 250,000 people have died in almost five years of war in Syria.

Mr de Mistura said the talks were an "uphill" challenge as trust between both sides was "close to zero".

"The test of whether these talks are going to be serious will be... if something changes on the ground while we are doing talks," he told the BBC in an interview in Geneva.

"We need something concrete. Otherwise, we, the UN, will be the first one to say 'thank you, but we are looking for something concrete here'."

'No talks about talks'

The High Negotiation Committee (HNC), the opposition umbrella group, has warned that it will not engage in negotiations unless sieges and air strikes on rebel-held areas end, but the government has so far not agreed.

The head of the government delegation, Bashar al-Jaafari, has said the opposition is "not serious" about peace and that there should be no preconditions for talks.

Link to Updated Article - Video - Photos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35477116

[Anthea]

BBC News

The UN has suspended peace talks aimed at ending Syria's five-year civil war,
the organisation's special envoy has said

Staffan de Mistura called the temporary halt, saying there had been a lack of progress in the first week.

It comes as the Syrian government claimed to have broken a siege of two towns north-west of Aleppo.

The advance, reported on Syrian state television, severs a key rebel supply route into the city.

On the talks, Mr de Mistura admitted "there's more work to be done". They are due to resume later this month.

"It is not the end and it is not the failure of the talks," he said.

"Why? They came and they stayed. Both sides insisted on the fact that they are interested in having a political process started."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35488073

[Anthea]

lack of progress in the first week

It has only been 3 days!?!

Does not exactly show dedication on the part of the UN

They should be ashamed of themselves

I could do better myself and I would NOT give up until the killings stopped