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Talks on Syrian Conflict Resume in Geneva Talks on Syrian Conflict Resume in Geneva
(about 2 hours later)
GENEVA — As fighting raged unabated in Syria, government and opposition representatives met in Geneva on Monday for a second round of peace negotiations in hopes of moving away from the inconclusive and often fractious exchanges in the first round that ended 10 days ago.GENEVA — As fighting raged unabated in Syria, government and opposition representatives met in Geneva on Monday for a second round of peace negotiations in hopes of moving away from the inconclusive and often fractious exchanges in the first round that ended 10 days ago.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations mediator guiding the peace process, prepared the ground by meeting the opposition’s chief negotiator on Saturday and then holding talks with Syria’s foreign minister, Walid Muallem, after his arrival in Geneva on Sunday. The preliminary discussion did not lead to immediate face-to-face negotiations. Mr. Brahimi began Monday’s discussions with another separate meeting with the opposition, to be followed by talks with the government delegation. Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations mediator guiding the peace process, prepared the ground by meeting the opposition’s chief negotiator on Saturday and then holding talks with Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, after his arrival in Geneva on Sunday. The preliminary discussion did not lead to immediate face-to-face negotiations. Mr. Brahimi began Monday’s discussions with another separate meeting with the opposition, to be followed by talks with the government delegation.
After the first round of talks ended on Jan. 31, Mr. Brahimi acknowledged that “we haven’t made any progress to speak of,” but identified some common ground between the two sides that he said could provide a platform for this week’s talks, adding the crucial caveat “if there is good faith and political will.”After the first round of talks ended on Jan. 31, Mr. Brahimi acknowledged that “we haven’t made any progress to speak of,” but identified some common ground between the two sides that he said could provide a platform for this week’s talks, adding the crucial caveat “if there is good faith and political will.”
There was scant evidence of either on Sunday as mortar shelling and sniper fire erupted in the city of Homs, inflicting civilian casualties and damaging aid agency vehicles. The vehicles had arrived under a United Nations-brokered humanitarian pause intended to enable aid agencies to deliver food and medicine to the blockaded Old City, where civilians have been trapped for the past two years.There was scant evidence of either on Sunday as mortar shelling and sniper fire erupted in the city of Homs, inflicting civilian casualties and damaging aid agency vehicles. The vehicles had arrived under a United Nations-brokered humanitarian pause intended to enable aid agencies to deliver food and medicine to the blockaded Old City, where civilians have been trapped for the past two years.
Several hundred civilians described by aid workers as in frail health were able to get out of the Old City. But the gunfire that reportedly killed at least six civilians and forced aid agency staff members to shelter for several hours in the ruins of the Old City starkly exposed the hazards that have hindered international efforts to open up humanitarian access to more than a quarter of a million people believed to be living in areas under siege by government and rebel forces, and to millions of Syrians in other areas where insecurity has obstructed aid deliveries.Several hundred civilians described by aid workers as in frail health were able to get out of the Old City. But the gunfire that reportedly killed at least six civilians and forced aid agency staff members to shelter for several hours in the ruins of the Old City starkly exposed the hazards that have hindered international efforts to open up humanitarian access to more than a quarter of a million people believed to be living in areas under siege by government and rebel forces, and to millions of Syrians in other areas where insecurity has obstructed aid deliveries.
The high stakes in the Geneva talks for Syria’s war-weary populace were further underscored by reports of scores of casualties in an attack attributed to jihadist rebels on an Alawite village in the central province of Hama. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 20 civilians, including women, and some 20 men defending the village were killed in that assault, The Associated Press reported. The pressure for results at the Geneva talks was further underscored by reports of scores of casualties in an attack attributed to jihadist rebels on an Alawite village in the central province of Hama. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 20 civilians, including women, and some 20 men defending the village were killed in that assault, The Associated Press reported.
The only common ground between the government and the opposition visible at the end of the first round of talks was an agreement to negotiate within the framework of a communiqué that called for the creation of a transitional government with full executive powers and based on mutual consent.The only common ground between the government and the opposition visible at the end of the first round of talks was an agreement to negotiate within the framework of a communiqué that called for the creation of a transitional government with full executive powers and based on mutual consent.
But that position left ample room for opposing interpretations. Opposition delegates have said they want to focus immediately on the composition of a transitional government and timelines for creating it. Mr. Muallem, before leaving Syria, said the government was prepared to negotiate the communiqué article by article, but it has also scotched any suggestion that it is ready to negotiate a transfer of power, and wants the Geneva talks to focus instead on tackling “terrorism.” But that position left ample room for opposing interpretations. Opposition delegates have said they want to focus immediately on the composition of a transitional government and timelines for creating it. Mr. Moallem, before leaving Syria, said the government was prepared to negotiate the communiqué article by article, but it has also denied any suggestion that it is ready to negotiate a transfer of power, and wants the Geneva talks to focus instead on tackling “terrorism.”
In the interval since the first round of meetings, Mr. Brahimi and the Syrian parties to the talks have conferred with the United States and Russia, the sponsors of the Geneva process, and Moscow said Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov had conferred with Secretary of State John Kerry by phone over the weekend. No details have emerged of any initiatives to steer the warring parties toward carrying out cease-fires, prisoner exchanges or better access for aid agencies.In the interval since the first round of meetings, Mr. Brahimi and the Syrian parties to the talks have conferred with the United States and Russia, the sponsors of the Geneva process, and Moscow said Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov had conferred with Secretary of State John Kerry by phone over the weekend. No details have emerged of any initiatives to steer the warring parties toward carrying out cease-fires, prisoner exchanges or better access for aid agencies.
Modest progress was reported on Monday in the international effort to destroy the Syrian government’s chemical weapons arsenal, which has been underway since October. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the Hague-based group that has been collaborating with the United Nations in overseeing that effort, reported on its website that a third shipment of chemicals was exported on Monday from the port of Latakia.
The group also reported that some of the chemical compounds in the Syrian stockpile had been destroyed inside Syria, but provided no further details on precisely what was destroyed or where.
Syria amassed an estimated 1,200 tons of toxic chemical materials in its stockpile, half of it considered especially dangerous. The United States, which had threatened missile strikes on Syria before President Bashar al-Assad agreed last September to destroy the chemical arsenal, has complained in recent weeks that the Syrian government appears to be stalling. Two deadlines for exporting the chemicals have been missed.
Mr. Assad and his subordinates have attributed delays in the export to security problems from the war. But the director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu, said on Jan. 31 that “the need for the process to pick up pace is obvious.” Last week, Russia, which helped negotiate the agreement that averted the American missile strikes, said it expected the Syrian government to complete all chemical weapons exports by March 1.
The exported chemicals are to be transferred at a southern Italian port to an American vessel, the Cape Ray, which is equipped with technology to neutralize them.
Under Syria’s agreement, backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution, the entire arsenal is to be destroyed by the middle of this year.