First day of Syria talks sees hostile parties sharing dais
23 Jan 2014 5:48 AM IST
Opposition leader Ahmed Jarba accused the president of Nazi-style war crimes and demanded the Syrian government delegation at the one-day meeting in Montreux, Switzerland sign up to an international plan for handing over power.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem insisted Assad would not bow to outside demands and painted a graphic picture of ‘terrorist’ rebel atrocities supported by Arab and Western states who back the opposition and were present in the room. ‘Assad isn’t going,’ Syria’s information minister said.
The United States and Russia, co-sponsors of the conference which UN officials hope will lead to negotiations in Geneva from Friday, also revealed their differences over Assad during a day of formal presentations at Montreux on Lake Geneva.
The talks reflect mounting global concern that a war which has killed over 130,000 and left millions homeless is spilling beyond Syria and fuelling sectarian militancy abroad. But there was little sign that any party was ready to make concessions.
Western officials said they were taken aback by the combative tone adopted by Moualem, who also defied UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s plea to shorten his speech. Some diplomats questioned whether negotiations could continue.
US Secretary of State John Kerry echoed the rebel view that there is ‘no way’ Assad can stay under the terms of a 2012 international accord urging an interim coalition. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said all sides had a role and condemned ‘one-sided interpretations’ of the 2012 pact.
Saudi Arabia, which backs the Sunni rebels, called for Iran and its Shi’ite Lebanese ally Hezbollah to withdraw forces from Syria. Iran, locked in a sectarian confrontation across the region, was absent, shunned by the opposition and the West for rejecting calls for a transitional government. Its president said Tehran’s exclusion meant talks were unlikely to succeed.
The conference has raised no great expectations, particularly among Islamist rebels who have branded Western-backed opposition leaders as traitors for even taking part.
But even Western officials said hopes of talks in Geneva after Friday may be in jeopardy. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he found Moualem’s unbending position ‘astounding and infuriating’ and added that there could be no progress with Damascus ‘if they don’t show some intelligence’.
A French official called Moualem’s speech ‘provocative and aggressive’. A Western diplomat called it a ‘major error’ showing ‘paranoid arrogance’ that could undermine negotiations.
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
UN chief Ban opened proceedings by calling for immediate access for humanitarian aid convoys to areas under siege.
‘After nearly three painful years of conflict and suffering in Syria, today is a day of fragile but real hope,’ Ban said, condemning human rights abuses across the board. ‘Great challenges lie ahead but they are not insurmountable.’
But there was little sign of compromise on the central issue of whether Assad, who inherited power from his father 14 years ago, should make way for a government of national unity.
He himself says he could win re-election later this year and his fate has divided Moscow and Washington. Both endorse the conclusions of the 2012 meeting of world powers, known as Geneva 1, but differ on whether it means Assad must go now.
Opposition leader Jarba called for the government delegates to turn against their president before so-called Geneva 2 negotiations start: ‘We want to make sure we have a partner in this room that goes from being a Bashar al-Assad delegation to a free delegation so that all executive powers are transferred from Bashar al-Assad,’ the National Coalition leader added.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem insisted Assad would not bow to outside demands and painted a graphic picture of ‘terrorist’ rebel atrocities supported by Arab and Western states who back the opposition and were present in the room. ‘Assad isn’t going,’ Syria’s information minister said.
The United States and Russia, co-sponsors of the conference which UN officials hope will lead to negotiations in Geneva from Friday, also revealed their differences over Assad during a day of formal presentations at Montreux on Lake Geneva.
The talks reflect mounting global concern that a war which has killed over 130,000 and left millions homeless is spilling beyond Syria and fuelling sectarian militancy abroad. But there was little sign that any party was ready to make concessions.
Western officials said they were taken aback by the combative tone adopted by Moualem, who also defied UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s plea to shorten his speech. Some diplomats questioned whether negotiations could continue.
US Secretary of State John Kerry echoed the rebel view that there is ‘no way’ Assad can stay under the terms of a 2012 international accord urging an interim coalition. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said all sides had a role and condemned ‘one-sided interpretations’ of the 2012 pact.
Saudi Arabia, which backs the Sunni rebels, called for Iran and its Shi’ite Lebanese ally Hezbollah to withdraw forces from Syria. Iran, locked in a sectarian confrontation across the region, was absent, shunned by the opposition and the West for rejecting calls for a transitional government. Its president said Tehran’s exclusion meant talks were unlikely to succeed.
The conference has raised no great expectations, particularly among Islamist rebels who have branded Western-backed opposition leaders as traitors for even taking part.
But even Western officials said hopes of talks in Geneva after Friday may be in jeopardy. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he found Moualem’s unbending position ‘astounding and infuriating’ and added that there could be no progress with Damascus ‘if they don’t show some intelligence’.
A French official called Moualem’s speech ‘provocative and aggressive’. A Western diplomat called it a ‘major error’ showing ‘paranoid arrogance’ that could undermine negotiations.
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
UN chief Ban opened proceedings by calling for immediate access for humanitarian aid convoys to areas under siege.
‘After nearly three painful years of conflict and suffering in Syria, today is a day of fragile but real hope,’ Ban said, condemning human rights abuses across the board. ‘Great challenges lie ahead but they are not insurmountable.’
But there was little sign of compromise on the central issue of whether Assad, who inherited power from his father 14 years ago, should make way for a government of national unity.
He himself says he could win re-election later this year and his fate has divided Moscow and Washington. Both endorse the conclusions of the 2012 meeting of world powers, known as Geneva 1, but differ on whether it means Assad must go now.
Opposition leader Jarba called for the government delegates to turn against their president before so-called Geneva 2 negotiations start: ‘We want to make sure we have a partner in this room that goes from being a Bashar al-Assad delegation to a free delegation so that all executive powers are transferred from Bashar al-Assad,’ the National Coalition leader added.
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