UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura was yesterday under pressure to get peace negotiations back on track after intense Russian bombing in support of regime forces left talks in Switzerland hanging by a thread.
De Mistura’s brief is to coax the warring parties into six months of indirect talks in Switzerland.
After formally meeting the main opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), on Monday for the first time in Geneva, the Italian-Swedish diplomat said these negotiations had officially begun.
Photo: EPA
However, less than 24 hours later, it became clear that this had been premature with Damascus’ lead negotiator, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari saying that the talks were “still in the preparatory stage.”
“We still don’t know who the opposition delegation is,” al-Jaafari told reporters, adding that he had put de Mistura straight.
Following that, the HNC canceled its meeting with de Mistura scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, with HNC member Farah Atassi saying that “at this moment, there is no reason to repeat ourselves with de Mistura.”
The HNC has demanded that the regime allow humanitarian access to besieged towns, stop bombing civilians and release thousands of prisoners — some of whom are children — languishing in regime jails before the talks can start.
However, what really outraged the HNC is an ongoing regime offensive, backed by Russian airstrikes, that on Tuesday allowed government forces to edge closer to breaking a long-running rebel siege on two government-held villages in Aleppo Province.
Russian planes carried out an intense aerial bombardment throughout the area north of Aleppo City, with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting about 320 raids since Monday morning in the region.
The observatory group said at least 18 civilians had been killed in the raids on Tuesday, including five women, three children and two emergency workers.
“We have never seen things like this since the beginning of the revolution,” HNC spokeswoman Basma Kodmani said in Geneva, calling the Russian raids “unprecedented.”
“The regime’s and Russia’s actions gravely threaten the political process at this early stage,” Atassi said.
The hoped-for peace talks in Geneva are part of an ambitious roadmap hammered out in November last year in Vienna by the outside powers that foresees elections within 18 months.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged the Syrian opposition to remain on board despite the Russian bombing, adding that he was “extraordinarily sympathetic” to their difficult situation.
Russia, — which put its military might at al-Assad’s disposal in September last year — said it was willing to coordinate efforts towards a ceasefire with the US, Interfax news agency reported.
The agency reported that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said de Mistura would meet the opposition negotiators again on yesterday or today.
Gatilov, in Geneva to follow the talks, said the opposition “will explain their position and will announce the makeup of the delegation that will participate in talks,” Interfax reported.
Late on Tuesday De Mistura said on Swiss TV that if these talks fail, “all hope would be lost.”
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