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22 January 2014 – Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon today opened a concerted new effort to end the brutal civil
war in Syria, urging the Government, the opposition, and
representatives of some 40 other countries and regional organization to
seize the historic opportunity to end the bloodshed.
“After nearly three painful years of conflict and suffering in Syria, today is a day of fragile but real hope,” he told the opening session of the high-level segment of the United Nations peace conference on Syria in Montreux, Switzerland.
“For the first time, the Syrian Government and the Syria opposition, countries of the region, and the wider international community are convening to seek a political solution to the death, destruction and displacement that is the dire reality of life in Syria today.
“All Syrians, and all in the region affected by this crisis, are looking to you gathered here to end the unspeakable human suffering, to save Syria’s rich societal mosaic, and to embark on a meaningful political process to achieve a Syrian-led transition.”
Today’s meeting, designed to give international support to the efforts to resolve the deadly conflict that has torn Syria apart, will be followed on Friday by talks between the Syrian parties at UN headquarters in Geneva in what will be the first time that the Government and opposition meet at a negotiating table since the conflict started in March 2011.
The basis of the talks is full implementation of an action plan adopted in the so-called Geneva Communique of 2012, adopted at the first international conference on the conflict, and which calls for a transitional government to lead to free and fair elections.
But participants will also seek to make arrangements for humanitarian aid to flow into a country where well over 100,000 people have been killed and nearly 9 million others driven from their homes since the conflict erupted between the Government and various groups seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
un.org
22/1/14
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Syrian peace talks stuck over Assad's future ....
ReplyDeleteMONTREUX (Switzerland): Peace talks intended to carve a path out of Syria's civil war got off to a rocky start on Wednesday as a bitter clash over President Bashar Assad's future threatened to collapse the negotiations even before they really begin.
The dispute over Assad cast a pall over the start of an international peace conference that aims to map out a transitional government and ultimately a democratic election for the war-torn Middle East nation.
While diplomats sparred against a pristine Alpine backdrop, Syrian forces and opposition fighters clashed across a wide area from Aleppo and Idlib in the north to Daraa in the south, where the uprising against Assad began three years ago, activists and state media said.
The US and the Syrian opposition opened the conference by saying the Syrian leader lost his legitimacy when he crushed a once-peaceful protest movement. In a strong riposte, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem countered that terrorists and foreign meddling had ripped his country apart. He refused to give up the podium despite requests from the UN chief.
"You live in New York. I live in Syria," he angrily told UN chief Ban Ki-moon. "I have the right to give the Syrian version here in this forum. After three years of suffering, this is my right."
Less than three hours into the peace talks in the Swiss city of Montreux, the two sides seemed impossibly far apart.
"We really need to deal with reality," said US secretary of state John Kerry. "There is no way — no way possible in the imagination — that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. One man and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage."
The Syrian opposition leader, —Amhad al-Jarba of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition — had wavered up to the last-minute on whether to attend peace talks that have been largely opposed by rebel brigades in Syria. He insisted Wednesday that the whole point of the peace conference was to create a transitional government without Assad.
Al-Moallem insisted that no one except Syrians could remove Assad. He also accused the West and neighboring countries — notably Saudi Arabia, which he did not name — of funneling money, weapons and foreign fighters to the rebellion.
"The West claims to fight terrorism publically while they feed it secretly," he said. "Syrians here in this hall participated in all that has happened, they implemented, facilitated the bloodshed and all at the expense of the Syrian people they claim to represent."
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki later criticized the Syrian government's rhetoric as "inflammatory" and al-Jarba's chief of staff called it a false distraction.
"All of what they say is lies," Jarba's chief of staff, Monzer Akbik, told The Associated Press. "The Syrian people are fighting al-Qaida in the North and it was the regime that brought al-Qaida in."..............http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Syrian-peace-talks-stuck-over-Assads-future/articleshow/29211443.cms
22/1/14
Geneva-2: participants agree Iran must be involved - Lavrov ...
ReplyDeleteOverall, Moscow is content with the first day of peace talks in Montreux, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Indeed, it is the first time in three years of Syrian conflict that both sides of Syrian crisis came together at negotiating table. The majority of players at the conference believe that Iran should be involved in negotiating process, said Lavrov after the first day of talks.
"I talked to most of the participants of the conference and have not heard from any of them that the current format is ideal. Many have voiced their concern that Iran is playing a very important role in this political process and we must find a way to involve Tehran in Syria-talks”, said Lavrov.
Russian Foreign Minister also added that he hasn’t yet heard an exhaustive explanation concerning the non-participation of Iran from his UN colleagues.
According to Lavrov, Geneva-2 format can be readily expanded.
"From all I heard from my colleagues, there is a great need to bring in new players into negotiation process and act in accord with Geneva communique," said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Montreux.
“The beginning was very difficult, it was a complicated process”, said Lavrov. “But the fact that we managed to hold the inaugural meeting of Geneva-2 is already a big progress”.
It was also agreed during the meeting that the High Representatives of Russia, the US and the UN will develop a plan for the exchange of prisoners of war between the Syrian government and the opposition forces. The exchange is expected to help build trust between the two parties to the conflict, said Lavrov.
“Together with our American colleagues and the UN personnel we will work out the details of such move. As you know, on the practical level we have to agree on the lists of prisoners from both sides”, said Lavrov.
The first day of the Geneva-2 international conference on Syria did not produce any sensations, nobody hoped for achieving any understandings so soon, Sergei Lavrov has said.
"I believe that the conference was held as expected. Nobody hoped that any outline of an understanding, to say nothing of an understanding itself could be reached at this first ceremonial stage," he said to journalists after the first day of the conference.
"Predictably the sides came up with quite emotional statements, mutual accusations were made and I will repeat that it was expected because the conflict had built up for three years and the first contact between the government and one of the opposition groups that enjoys broad support from a whole number of foreign players could not be cloudless," Lavrov stressed.........Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_01_22/Geneva-2-participants-agree-Iran-must-be-involved-Lavrov-9825/
22/1/14
Genève II - Ban Ki-moon aux Syriens: "Trop, c'est trop, il est temps de négocier"....
ReplyDeleteLe secrétaire général de l'ONU, Ban Ki-moon, a appelé mercredi les Syriens à négocier pour arriver à une "fin immédiate" du conflit, estimant qu'"il y a déjà eu trop d'"horreurs" et de "souffrances".
Dignitaires et opposants syriens se sont retrouvés mercredi dans la ville suisse de Montreux pour leur premier face-à-face depuis le début de la guerre qui ravage leur pays depuis presque trois ans, en présence d'une quarantaine de pays. "Notre but était d'envoyer un message aux deux délégations syriennes et au peuple syrien pour dire que le monde veut une fin immédiate du conflit", a déclaré M. Ban. "Trop, c'est trop, il est temps de négocier", a-t-il ajouté lors d'une conférence de presse de clôture de la réunion de Montreux. "Nous devons saisir cette chance fragile. Personne ne sous-estime l'importance de la tâche", a-t-il tenu à souligner. "C'est la première fois qu'on les réunit. Il faut encourager les parties à parler dès que possible (...) je suis certain que les talents de médiateur de M. Brahimi feront qu'ils s'assoiront autour de cette table", a-t-il dit en référence au médiateur de l'ONU et de la Ligue arabe pour la Syrie, Lakhdar Brahimi, assis à ses côtés. Ce dernier a indiqué qu'il rencontrera jeudi les deux parties pour discuter de la prochaine étape des négociations dans le cadre de la conférence dite de Genève II. "Demain, je vais les rencontrer séparément et voir quelle est la meilleure manière d'aller de l'avant. Allons-nous nous réunir dans une même salle et entamer les discussions ou parlerons-nous séparément un peu avant ? Je ne sais pas encore", a ajouté M. Brahimi. (Belga)
http://www.rtl.be/info/monde/international/1063846/geneve-ii-ban-ki-moon-aux-syriens-trop-c-est-trop-il-est-temps-de-negocier-
22/1/14