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Impasse in Syria Talks Raises Stakes for U.S.-Russia Meetings Syrian Rebels Sketch Peace Plan That Omits Demand for Assad’s Ouster
(about 7 hours later)
GENEVA — Syrian government and opposition delegations continued to talk past one another in face-to-face talks on Wednesday, raising the stakes of meetings that the two sides are scheduled to hold later in the week with senior Russian and American officials, in the hope that pressure from their sponsors can break the deadlock. GENEVA — The Syrian opposition coalition on Wednesday presented its most detailed vision yet of a political transition to end Syria’s conflict, in a 24-point plan that, strikingly, made no mention of President Bashar al-Assad or his ouster, while outlining strong requirements for human rights and justice in a future Syria.
The parties emerged with no new progress on the last day of a temporary pause in fighting in the central Syrian city of Homs, where United Nations workers were trying on Wednesday to evacuate an additional 200 civilians from neighborhoods long blockaded by the government. But there was no further word on the fate of more than 300 men who were detained by the government after evacuating in recent days, a development that raised concerns that the authorities were using the aid delivery and evacuations as a way to arrest opponents. The proposal, detailed in a document presented to the Syrian government’s delegation during peace talks here, marked a shift in tone for the opposition group, which has long insisted on Mr. Assad’s departure as the starting point for a political resolution to the conflict.
Footage from Homs on Wednesday showed two United Nations light trucks, flying white flags with the World Food Program logo, bouncing over rubble through bombed-out neighborhoods ferrying shipments of boxed food and flour sacks, which wiry men scrambled to unload. The United Nations declined to comment on the operations, but two Homs residents, Ahmad Al-Qaseer and Khoudir Khashfeh, said in separate interviews that about 200 people were being evacuated, including some wounded, and that two trucks had entered without violence disrupting the delivery. The shift was bold yet risky, coming as the opposition delegation has managed for the first time to persuade several representatives of armed rebel groups to attend the Geneva talks. It carried the risk that the fighters, whose trust the exile opposition coalition seeks to gain, would feel betrayed by the omission of a demand for Mr. Assad’s ouster.
The so-called humanitarian pause in Homs, so far the only concrete achievement of the Geneva talks, has been controversial, with government supporters saying it amounts to feeding enemies and with opponents saying that it is a government scheme to displace or imprison residents and then obliterate what remains of the neighborhoods and their residents. Yet the opposition delegates here displayed little ambivalence about the move, sharing the document widely with journalists and Syrian organizations.
In Geneva, Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations mediator, brought the two sides together for discussions expected to consider issues linked to the formation of a transitional government as mandated by the 2012 Geneva communiqué that forms the basis for these peace negotiations and in line with a memo he had submitted to both sides over the weekend. The proposal calls for strong human rights guarantees and a transitional justice process to “hold accountable” those who have harmed Syrians, while explicitly rejecting wide purges of government employees and calling for the preservation of state institutions, including the army and security services.
Louay Safi, a spokesman for the opposition, told reporters that it had submitted a paper setting out principles for forming and operating such a transitional body, adding that one of its responsibilities would be to evict foreign fighters from Syria regardless of which side they supported. “At this point we have not heard anything from the other party,” he said. Opposition members said they hoped the proposal would help ease the fears of Syrian fence-sitters — by signaling that Mr. Assad’s opponents want to avoid a state collapse like that in Iraq following the American-led invasion in 2003 — and warm relations with Russia, the Assad government’s strongest backer. Russia has long said it is not committed to Mr. Assad personally but rejects making his ouster a precondition for political transition.
The Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, speaking minutes later, explained that the opposition had “misused” the meeting by diverting attention from the need to combat terrorism, sticking religiously to a line the government team has pushed since it first arrived in Geneva. “We would really like to open new channels with the Russians, and it is very important for us to meet with them,” said Abdulahad Astepho, a member of the opposition delegation, adding that the group hoped to meet with the Russian deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, after talks with the American undersecretary of state for political affairs, Wendy Sherman, on Friday.
That deadlock helped to focus attention on a round of consultations getting underway with Russia and the United States, the main sponsors of the Geneva peace process. The Russian deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, who arrived in Geneva on Tuesday night, met with Mr. Brahimi on Wednesday morning before trilateral talks that were to include Wendy Sherman, the American under secretary of state for political affairs, planned for Thursday. In Wednesday’s face-to-face discussions, Syrian government and opposition delegations continued to talk past one another, raising the stakes of meetings that the two sides are scheduled to hold later in the week with senior Russian and American officials, in the hope that pressure from their sponsors can break the deadlock.
Their arrival comes at a point when Mr. Brahimi has made clear that he is looking for “lots of outside help” to inject some momentum into the peace talks and analysts say a firm diplomatic shove by the United States and Russia is needed to push the two Syrian delegations past sterile sparring on agenda issues and into discussions on matters of substance. The Russians and Americans are set to hold trilateral talks on Thursday with the United Nations mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, who has said he wants “lots of outside help” to inject momentum into the talks.
Mr. Gatilov was expected to meet with the Syrian government side later on Wednesday, and the three diplomats may broaden their deliberations to bring in the Syrian delegates to try to chart a course forward, although the two delegations said that had yet to be formally proposed. Members of the opposition delegation said that the omission of Mr. Assad’s name was deliberate, continuing a strategy of presenting their side as more willing than the government to be flexible and adhere to the agenda of the meeting, which is based on the June 2012 Geneva I communiqué. That document does not call for Mr. Assad to step down, but requires the establishment of a transitional governing body “by mutual consent.”
The extent of Moscow’s leverage with the government of President Bashar al-Assad is a matter of conjecture, but diplomats believe that as a co-signer of the Geneva communiqué that calls for setting up a transitional government in Syria, it does not want to see the government team walk away from negotiations. The government delegation did not respond to the opposition proposal, which also called for an end to all violence, the eviction of foreign fighters from Syria regardless of which side they support, and the dismantling of fighting groups and the integration of members into civilian life or the security services. It also proposed the election of a constituent assembly through a United Nations-supervised ballot, the approval of a constitution via a referendum, and then presidential elections.
United Nations agencies and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicles resumed operations in Homs on Wednesday, the third and last day of an extended cease-fire arranged to allow food supplies into the Old City and to evacuate civilians from the shell-shattered city, which has been blockaded by government forces and militia members for the last 18 months. “At this point we have not heard anything from the other party,” Louay Safi, an opposition spokesman, said after the meeting.
United Nations officials confirmed that aid agencies had returned to the Old City, but said they would not be releasing details while operations were still underway. The Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, speaking minutes later, said that the opposition had “misused” the meeting by diverting attention from the need to combat terrorism, which the government insists should be addressed first, sticking religiously to a line that the government delegation has pushed since it first arrived in Geneva.
Diplomatic pressure is building to allow humanitarian agencies to deliver aid to more than six million Syrians in need of support after nearly three years of brutal conflict, including a quarter of a million people believed to be trapped in besieged areas. The United Nations’ chief aid coordinator, Valerie Amos, is scheduled to report to the Security Council on Thursday and is expected to call for more pressure on government forces and rebels to stop blocking aid deliveries. The opposition has said it was willing to discuss ending violence and terrorism alongside the topic of forming a transitional governing body. But Mr. Mekdad said parallel-track talks were “a delusional proposal” and “a recipe to kill the Geneva talks.”
President Obama, in a joint news conference in Washington with President François Hollande of France, said Secretary of State John Kerry had already delivered “a very strong message” to Russia to drop its opposition to a draft Security Council resolution that calls for more humanitarian pauses and an end to sieges, and threatens nonmilitary sanctions against any party obstructing aid deliveries. Instead, the government presented a paper that listed killings and atrocities it said were committed by the insurgents, which opposition members said included attacks that they blame on pro-government forces. Mr. Mekdad said the paper was a retort to “the lies of the coalition.”
But that resolution, criticized by the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, as one-sided in criticizing the government and “detached from reality,” faces a Russian veto. The parties emerged with no new progress on the last day of a temporary pause in fighting in the Syrian city of Homs, where United Nations workers were trying on Wednesday to evacuate additional civilians from neighborhoods long blockaded by the government. But there was no further word on the fate of more than 300 men who were detained by the government. The men were among about 800 people evacuated from the blocked areas in recent days.
President Obama said on Wednesday that Secretary of State John Kerry had already delivered “a very strong message” to Russia to drop its opposition to a draft United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for more so-called humanitarian pauses and an end to sieges, and that threatens nonmilitary sanctions against any party obstructing aid deliveries.
That resolution, criticized by the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, as one-sided and “detached from reality,” faces a Russian veto.
But on Wednesday, Security Council diplomats said Russia suggested that it could consider a differently worded resolution on humanitarian aid. Russia has yet to propose language, but a Russian official was sent to attend a session on the wording late Tuesday.
The United Nations’ chief aid coordinator, Valerie Amos, is scheduled to report to the Security Council on Thursday and is expected to call for more pressure on both government forces and rebels to stop blocking aid deliveries.