UN fails to break deadlock in Syria talks
Talks interrupted after the regime railed against Washington instead of dealing with a transition of power.
h talks interrupted after the regime railed against Washington instead of dealing with a transition of power. (Photo: Reuters)
The UN failed to break a deadlock at Syrian peace negotiations in Geneva with talks interrupted after the regime railed against Washington instead of dealing with a transition of power.
There was also no movement on bringing relief to besieged residents in Syria’s central city of Homs, where UN trucks are
waiting for access to deliver desperately needed food and medical aid.
After a difficult morning meeting on the fourth day of talks, UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said that he had decided to cancel afternoon talks and reconvene the parties for “what I hope will be a better session” on Wednesday morning.
“Nobody is walking out, nobody is running away,” Brahimi told reporters adding, “We have not achieved any breakthrough,
but we are still at it, and this is good enough as far as I’m concerned.”
A member of the opposition negotiating team, Rima Fleihan, told AFP that Brahimi adjourned the meeting “because the regime is not cooperating on any subject, not on humanitarian issues and not on a transitional governing body”.
She said the opposition had presented a preliminary transition plan laying out its “vision” for Syria, but the regime refused to engage in talks.
“We have a vision, unfortunately the regime presented nothing and refused all discussion,” Fleihan said.
Tuesday’s session saw delegates from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime present a statement it wanted adopted that condemned Washington.
The statement, obtained by AFP, said “the United States has made a decision to resume arming terrorist groups in Syria”.
“This decision can only be understood as a direct attempt to obstruct any political solution in Syria through dialogue,” it said.
It follows a report from the Reuters news agency that the US Congress secretly approved funding for weapons deliveries
to “moderate” Syrian rebel factions.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad said that showed Washington “is not interested in the success” of the
peace process.
A State Department spokesman, Edgar Vasquez, dismissed accusations of Washington supporting terrorism as “ludicrous”.
“The Assad regime is a magnet for terrorists. The regime’s brutality is the source of the violent extremism in Syria today,” he said in a statement.
“We support the moderate political and military opposition who are fighting for the freedom and dignity of all the Syrian people.”
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