2 Sides in Syria Peace Talks Agree to Meet in the Same Room, Averting a Breakdown
By ANNE BARNARD
JAN. 24, 2014
The New York Times
GENEVA — The participants in the fragile Syrian peace conference agreed on Friday to meet in the same room for the first time, in a last ditch agreement that averted a potential collapse.
The two sides were expected to spend much of Saturday trying to agree on a cease-fire to allow aid to reach areas long blockaded by the government in the central city of Homs, according to a Western diplomat who said the aim was to score “a quick win” for the talks.
The government delegation had threatened to leave if the Saturday meeting could not be arranged, while the opposition complained that the government side was not fully committed to the framework of the talks.
After a day of frantic negotiations, however, the United Nations special envoy to the talks announced at a news briefing that the two sides had agreed to meet. “Tomorrow we expect, and we’ve agreed, that we will meet in the same room,” the envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, told reporters.
Government and opposition delegates are to meet in the morning to discuss an agenda, sitting at tables facing one another but addressing their remarks to Mr. Brahimi, said the Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in accordance with protocol. When they move to substantial issues, they may withdraw to separate rooms, with Mr. Brahimi shuttling back and forth in what are known as proximity talks, the diplomat added.
The two sides agreed to the meeting “under Russian and American pressure,” said a member of the opposition, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential talks. He said they had also agreed to stay “at least a week” and to “get right to the point,” with the first order of business being an attempt to organize some kind of cease-fire as a confidence-building measure.
Russia and the United States are the prime sponsors of the talks, with the Russians backing the Syrian government and the Americans backing the opposition, and both have staked their prestige on the meeting.
Asked what threats or leverage had been brought to bear, the opposition member said of the two sides, “They could not say no.”
Mr. Brahimi, asked if anyone would walk out on Saturday, reacted strongly. “I exclude that possibility,” he said. “Nobody will be leaving on Saturday and nobody will be leaving on Sunday.”
Pressed on whether he had their definite agreement, he left the impression that he had received commitments but did not necessarily trust them. He said with a hint of a smile, “That’s a good question.”
On the ground, Syrians on both sides are weary and suffering from a war that has killed more than 130,000 people and driven millions from their homes. But on the political stage, in tranquil, comfortable hotels in Switzerland, it has taken an extraordinary amount of arm-twisting to produce even tenuous steps toward negotiations.
Outside the United Nations building here as the wrangling went on inside, Marie-Therese Kiriaky, a Syrian who is from Damascus and lives in Germany, held a sign calling for peace.
“We are the people whose voices are never heard,” she said. “Enough is enough. This is the biggest massacre in this century, and it is a shame on humanity that the world doesn’t react.”
Although Ms. Kiriaky said she would not accept President Bashar al-Assad’s staying in power, she said the first priority was a cease-fire.
Mr. Brahimi, in his dry, laconic style, sought to apply some moral pressure on the delegations to focus on the needs of Syrians.
“Their country is in very bad shape,” he said, and they “understand that as well as I do or better. It is their country after all.” He added, “The huge ambition of this process is to save Syria. No less than that.”
United Nations officials had hoped to hold a face-to-face meeting between the government and the opposition on Friday, the third day of talks. When that failed, Syrian government officials said they would leave if the meeting was not rescheduled for the next day.
Members of the opposition said that the government delegation was divided, particularly on the question of discussing the formation of a transitional government.
“This is not a juggernaut,” said Oubai Shahbandar, an adviser to the opposition coalition. “There are serious splits in the government delegation.”
He said that every time the Syrian Foreign Ministry representatives said anything that indicated movement toward compromise, Mr. Assad’s representatives countered with a harder line.
The government delegation and its supporters retorted that the opposition was shifting position, as plans seesawed about whether the two sides would sit in the same room in the United Nations offices in Geneva. But the Western diplomat said the opposition had needed more time to prepare its delegation.
The crux of the dispute between the sides is the protocol for the meeting, set out in a June 2012 agreement known as Geneva I. The opposition has demanded that the government formally confirm that it accepts the protocol, which calls for a fully empowered transitional governing body to be formed by “mutual consent.”
On Friday morning, the Syrian deputy foreign minister, Fayssal Mekdad, told reporters that the delegation was in Geneva to put Geneva I into effect; otherwise, he said, it would not have come. But Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Mr. Assad, told the BBC: “By coming here we acknowledge the Geneva communiqué, but not all of it. It’s not a bible.”
In the news briefing, Mr. Brahimi said that the talks would proceed on the basis of the Geneva I communiqué, and that “the two parties know that very well, and accept it.” The government’s acceptance signaled “the starting gun” for talks, the Western diplomat said.
Burhan Ghalyoun, an opposition member, said after the group’s meeting with Mr. Brahimi that he had no objection to sitting with the government. “Yes it’s a criminal regime, but we need to sit with the criminal and ask him to stop the killing,” he said.
“We would sit in the same room or on the same table. It doesn’t matter.”
Mr. Brahimi said humanitarian access and cease-fires could be discussed concurrently with the core issue of the transitional government and ironing out the disagreements over interpreting the Geneva I protocols.
Another topic expected to be discussed is an exchange of prisoners. The opposition is expected to ask for the release of Abdelaziz al-Khair, a prominent dissident who is part of the so-called internal opposition that abjures armed resistance. The Western diplomat said he and others had urged the exile opposition to take up his cause to show it was prepared to broaden its tent.
It remained unclear whether any rebel commanders would show up for the talks to counter the widespread impression that the opposition coalition has no connection to the fighters.
Under bright sunlight on the plaza in front of the United Nations headquarters, young Syrian men, their arms around one another’s shoulders, sang a dirge heard at antigovernment rallies in Syria. “Mothers of the martyrs, never fear,” they chanted. “Mothers of the martyrs, we are with you. The gates of heaven are opening for your sons.”
Nearby, Ms. Kiriaky said that as a Syrian Christian, she rejected Mr. Assad’s claim to be a protector of a secular order.
She blamed both government shelling and insurgent attacks for ravaging Maaloula, an ancient Christian town where Aramaic is still spoken, but said that “state violence is the most dangerous.”
A version of this article appears in print on January 25, 2014, on page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: 2 Sides in Syria Peace Talks Agree to Meet in the Same Room, Averting a Breakdown.
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