"If he thinks he's going to be part of that future, it's not going to happen," the top American envoy told reporters in a joint appearance with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts at the State Department, adding that "The bottom line is we are going to Geneva to implement Geneva 1."
He was referring to the Geneva Communique adopted in June 2012 by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and four Middle East countries, which calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body in Syria to lead the country out of a protracted conflict that broke out in March 2011.
"And if al-Assad doesn't do that, he will invite greater response in various ways for various people over a period of time, " Kerry said, warning "Now we also are not out of options with respect to what we may be able to do to increase the pressure and further change the calculation."
In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem confirmed Damascus's attendance in the upcoming talks in the Swiss city of Montreux, also known as Geneva II, but said his country's focus would be on fighting " terrorism."
"I believe as we begin to get to Geneva and begin to get into this process, that it will become clear that there is no political solution whatsoever if al-Assad is not discussing a transition," Kerry said.
Some 30 countries have been invited by the United Nations to attend the ministerial meeting in Montreux.
Opposition forces in Syria remain divided over the questions of whether and under what conditions to participate in the talks, while the U.S.-recognized Syrian National Coalition will decide by vote on Friday.
http://english.cntv.cn/20140118/100456.shtml
18/1/14 (A.T.)
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Kerry slams Syria ceasefire offer....
ReplyDeleteWith just five days before Geneva, the Syrian government has offered a series of diplomatic options to the opposition.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned the Syrian regime it would fail to divert next week's peace talks away from the aim of installing a new government.
Syria's foreign minister said on Friday he has handed Russia plans for a ceasefire in Aleppo, and was ready to exchange lists with rebel forces on a possible prisoner swap.
Earlier on Friday, during a news conference in Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said he had handed his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, details of the ceasefire, plus plans for a prisoner exchange and the opening of humanitarian corridors in Syria.
"Taking into the account the role of the Russian Federation in ending the bloodshed in Syria, as well as our trustworthy relations, I have handed Minister Lavrov today a plan of security measures in Aleppo," Muallem said.
"In that regard I asked Minister Lavrov to use his contacts to implement this plan and to establish a specific time when all military actions in this area should be ceased."
But Kerry said the announcements were an attempt to divert Geneva II away from instilling the agreements laid down in Geneva I.
"I'm not particularly, you know, surprised that he is trying to divert this. He's been doing this for months, trying to make himself the protector of Syria against extremists," Kerry said of Assad.
Kerry slammed alleged comments from the Syrian regime that the Geneva II peace talks were to discuss ways to combat the rise of terrorist groups plaguing the country as "revisionism."........http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/kerry-slams-syria-regime-ceasefire-offer-2014117152551217128.html
17/1/14
Syrian opposition will join peace talks....
ReplyDeleteThe main Syrian opposition abroad, the Syrian National Coalition, has agreed to attend the internationally sponsored peace talks beginning in Switzerland next week.
“58 of the National Coalition members have voted in favor for participating in Switzerland,” Bassem Yousef, a Coalition member, told Al Arabiya News Channel.
Yousef said only 14 voted against and two abstained from voting.
Meanwhile, representatives of major Syrian rebel militias met in Ankara on Saturday to try to agree on a common stance for the upcoming peace talks in Switzerland next week, Reuters cited opposition sources as saying.
Ahmad Al-Jarba, head of the Coalition, the main umbrella group of the political opposition in exile, told the SNC’s general assembly in Silivri near Istanbul that the rebel militias had met, a source in the president’s office said. He declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the talks.
One rebel commander had said the Islamic Front was expected to attend the meeting, but another opposition source said the group had not been present at the talks.
The Coalition, meanwhile, is under huge pressure from its Western and Arab sponsors to attend the peace talks, scheduled to open Wednesday in the Swiss city of Montreux.
Many Coalition members are hesitant to attend a conference that has little chance of success and will burn the last shred of credibility the group has with powerful rebels on the ground, who reject the talks.
The Coalition could make the announcement regarding the peace conference later Saturday.
The Syrian government has already said it will attend the talks.
(With Reuters and Associated Press)
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/01/18/Syrian-opposition-will-join-peace-talks.html
18/1/14
Islamist rebels reject 'hollow' Syria peace talks...
ReplyDeleteBEIRUT - A powerful alliance of Syrian Islamist rebels rejected upcoming peace talks on Sunday, meaning that even if the talks reach an unlikely breakthrough in the three year old civil war, it will be harder to implement it on the ground.
Syria's main political opposition group in exile, the National Coalition, agreed on Saturday to attend the talks beginning on Wednesday in Geneva, setting up the first meeting between President Bashar Assad's government and its foes.
But the Islamic Front, an alliance of several Islamist fighting forces that represents a large portion of the rebels on the ground, said on Sunday it rejected the talks.
Syria's future would be "formulated here on the ground of heroism, and signed with blood on the front lines, not in hollow conferences attended by those who don't even represent themselves," Abu Omar, a leading member of the Islamic Front, said on his Twitter account.
Some 130,000 people have been killed and a quarter of Syrians driven from their homes in the civil war, which began with peaceful protests against 40 years of Assad family rule and has descended into a sectarian conflict, with the opposing sides armed and funded by Sunni Arab states and Shi'ite Iran.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Islamist-rebels-reject-hollow-Syria-peace-talks-338660
19/1/14
Kerry wirft syrischem Regime "barbarische Taten" vor...
ReplyDeleteMit außergewöhnlich scharfen Worten hat der US-Außenminister John Kerry die Gewalt in Syrien verurteilt.
Mit außergewöhnlich scharfen Worten hat US-Außenminister John Kerry dem Syriens Regime "barbarische Taten" gegen das eigene Volk vorgeworfen. In einer am Dienstag in Washington veröffentlichten Mitteilung verurteilte er, dass die Truppen von Präsident Bashar al-Assad Fassbomben mit Sprengstoff und Nägeln auf Zivilisten abwerfen. Diese entfalten bei der Detonation besonders zerstörerische Wirkung.......http://diepresse.com/home/politik/aussenpolitik/1558467/Kerry-wirft-syrischem-Regime-barbarische-Taten-vor?from=rss
4/2/14
Geneva II should focus on fighting terrorism, transition governing body...
ReplyDeleteGENEVA, February 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia believes that the Geneva II Peace Conference should focus on the fight against terrorism and the creation of a transition governing body, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.
“The matter is not in details. Any statement saying it is necessary to fight terrorism is being backed by everyone. When concrete discussions start it turns out to be that the opposition considers this problem the fight against state terrorism, i.e. the opposition believes that state terrorism is upheld by the Syrian government and the regime by President Bashar al-Assad,” the Russian diplomat said.
“In fact, the current events in Syria are fully ignored: these are dozens of thousands of mercenaries from different countries and they seek to carry on armed actions till the end and reject the political resolution of the crisis,” he said.
“Thus, these are two important issues. They should be raised at the Geneva talks. Everything will depend on Lakhdar Brahimi’s skills and his capacity to find such modalities, which will be acceptable for both parties,” the Russian diplomat said.
“Russia is ready to uphold any decisions, which will be taken on the basis of the parties’ mutual accord,” he said.
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/719187?utm_medium=rss20
14/2/14
Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Moskau.... "Lösung der Syrien-Krise noch in weiter Ferne"...
ReplyDeleteDie Syrien-Konferenz droht zu scheitern, die verfeindeten Parteien bleiben auf Abstand. Auch Bundesaußenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier glaubt nicht mehr an ein schnelles Ende des Bürgerkriegs.
Die diplomatischen Bemühungen zur Beilegung des Bürgerkriegs in Syrien zeigen bislang keine durchschlagende Wirkung. Bundesaußenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier sagte während eines Moskau-Besuchs, er hoffe natürlich, dass die Syrien-Konferenz in Genf "ein paar Ergebnisse" bringe. "Von einer politischen Lösung der Krise sind wir leider noch weit entfernt", räumte er aber ein. Die Konferenz droht zu scheitern, da sich auch am letzten Tag der inzwischen zweiten Runde der Gespräche keine Annäherung zwischen den Delegationen der syrischen Regierung und der Opposition abzeichnet. Erschwerend kommt die anhaltende Uneinigkeit im UN-Sicherheitsrat darüber hinzu, welche Position das Gremium in dem Konflikt einnehmen soll. Der Streit lähmt die Konferenz in der Schweiz, wo die UN-Vetomächte USA und Russland mit am Tisch sitzen.............http://www.n24.de/n24/Nachrichten/Politik/d/4283592/-loesung-der-syrien-krise-noch-in-weiter-ferne-.html
12/2/14