WORLD_ SYRIA_ Syria Will Continue Geneva Peace Talks

Syria Will Continue Geneva Peace Talks

By BEN HUBBARD
FEB. 7, 2014
The New York Times


ISTANBUL — The Syrian government said on Friday that it would continue to participate in the Geneva talks aimed at ending the country’s civil war, as civilians trapped in a rebel-controlled part of Homs waited to see if a deal to allow them to leave would be carried out.

In a statement to Syrian state news media, Faisal Mekdad, the deputy foreign minister, said that the government’s delegation would return to Geneva for the resumption of talks with the exile opposition on Monday.

The first round of the talks, which are backed by the United Nations and a number of countries including the United States and Russia, concluded last week without tangible progress toward stopping the war that has killed more than 130,000 people and created millions of refugees.

The United States and the opposition coalition insist that the goal of the talks is to get the sides to agree on the members of a “transitional governing body” to run the country, as is called for in the United Nations communiqué outlining the talks.

The Syrian government, however, has insisted that the talks focus on fighting terrorism. While Islamists and extremists, including one Al Qaeda affiliate, have risen to prominence among the rebel forces inside the country, the government dismisses all resistance to its rule as “terrorism.”

In announcing the government’s participation, Mr. Mekdad said its delegation was willing to discuss the communiqué “article by article” and that the talks should seek to “protect the lives of Syrians and stop the bloodshed by the armed terrorist groups and their regional and international supporters.”

Officials involved in the talks acknowledge that the possibility of an imminent breakthrough in the talks is low, largely because there are few levers that President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents can use to force his government to surrender power.

Mr. Assad’s military has a firm grip on the capital and much of the country’s center, while rebel forces lack unity and have become increasingly bogged down in clashes with an extremist group that has grown in their midst.

The Syrian government has also questioned the opposition’s ability to deliver any deal that might be reached. The government says the opposition delegation lacks control over the fighting forces inside Syria and represents only a slice of the anti-Assad groups outside the country.

Western officials have suggested that getting the parties to talk could lead to other benefits, like local cease-fires or increased access for humanitarian aid.

On Friday, residents of a besieged area of the central city of Homs were waiting to see whether an agreement between the government and the United Nations to let some civilians leave and aid to be delivered would be carried out.

The governor of Homs Province, Talal al-Barazi, said the government had made all the necessary arrangements to evacuate women, children and the elderly from besieged parts of Old Homs, according to the Syrian state news agency, SANA.

Mr. Barazi said it was expected that 200 civilians would be the first to leave and that he had reached an agreement with the United Nations to allow aid deliveries inside the besieged area to those who chose to remain.

The Russia Foreign Ministry said on Friday that its embassy in Damascus had helped broker a three-day cease-fire in Homs, Reuters reported.

American and United Nations officials reported the agreement on Thursday and a State Department spokeswoman said it was to begin on Friday with a “humanitarian pause” to allow the evacuation of civilians and the delivery of aid. The United Nations said that it had food, medical supplies and other aid waiting nearby once the deal took effect.

It was unclear when the cease-fire was to begin.

An opposition activist named Khodair Khashfah in Homs said the agreement was meant to allow civilians to move to safer areas without being arrested by the government, for aid to be delivered in rebel-held areas, and for wounded and sick people to be taken to hospitals.

“We are waiting for this deal to go through,” Mr. Khashfah said through Skype, adding that government and aid trucks were still waiting outside the Old City.

About 2,500 Syrians are believed to be trapped in the Old City of Homs, and about 500 to 700 of them want to be evacuated, including 80 who are said to be injured, Western diplomats have said.

Mohammed Ghannam contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.



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