The Syrian opposition is growing increasingly impatient about the direction of the UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva, their main grouse being that the Syrian government is refusing to engage in detailed negotiations and is trying avoid the main issues. There is nothing surprising about the opposition complaint considering the aggressive and arrogant stance of the Bashar Al Assad regime. With the support of Russian aircraft and troops, Assad’s forces have been able to consolidate their position against the rebels and the regime is now feeling emboldened to reject any move that would lead to the ouster of President Assad.
Mohammed Alloush, the leader of the Syrian opposition delegation at the peace talks, said little progress has been made in the first week of talks and many hurdles lie ahead. At the same time, Staffan de Mistura, the UN Syrian special envoy, is struggling to keep the negotiations moving by persuading the government to make concessions. Alloush is a leader of the Jaysh al-Islam (Islam Army) rebel group and is a senior negotiator for High Negotiations Committee (HNC), the official Syrian opposition delegation at the Geneva peace talks.
The main difference is over the structure of a transitional body to run Syria over the next 18 months and the role of Bashar Al Assad in such a government. The opposition is adamant in its demand that it cannot accept Assad in the transitional body, while the government delegation has been very evasive and unclear about its ideas. It has so far only put forward some broad suggestions which are not specific to the task of forming a transitional government. The opposition also demands that the transitional body must have comprehensive powers, and thirdly, those charged with war crimes should be dealt with by Syrian courts and not the International Criminal Court because the ICC is struggling with a huge backlog that runs into tens of thousands of cases.
If the talks collapse, it will deal a huge blow to the Syrian peace efforts and can endanger the current ceasefire which has been helpful in sending humanitarian aid to the besieged areas. But what is important is that the government of Syria must approach the talks with the seriousness it deserves and with a genuine desire to find a solution to the conflict. Unfortunately, this determination and sincerity are lacking on the government side and this realization has forced the opposition to rethink their presence in the talks.
Despite intense UN efforts, prospects remain bleak for the peace process, Arguments over Assad’s fate were a major cause of the failure of previous UN peace efforts in 2012 and 2014 to end a civil war that has now lasted five years.
The Syrian opposition is growing increasingly impatient about the direction of the UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva, their main grouse being that the Syrian government is refusing to engage in detailed negotiations and is trying avoid the main issues. There is nothing surprising about the opposition complaint considering the aggressive and arrogant stance of the Bashar Al Assad regime. With the support of Russian aircraft and troops, Assad’s forces have been able to consolidate their position against the rebels and the regime is now feeling emboldened to reject any move that would lead to the ouster of President Assad.
Mohammed Alloush, the leader of the Syrian opposition delegation at the peace talks, said little progress has been made in the first week of talks and many hurdles lie ahead. At the same time, Staffan de Mistura, the UN Syrian special envoy, is struggling to keep the negotiations moving by persuading the government to make concessions. Alloush is a leader of the Jaysh al-Islam (Islam Army) rebel group and is a senior negotiator for High Negotiations Committee (HNC), the official Syrian opposition delegation at the Geneva peace talks.
The main difference is over the structure of a transitional body to run Syria over the next 18 months and the role of Bashar Al Assad in such a government. The opposition is adamant in its demand that it cannot accept Assad in the transitional body, while the government delegation has been very evasive and unclear about its ideas. It has so far only put forward some broad suggestions which are not specific to the task of forming a transitional government. The opposition also demands that the transitional body must have comprehensive powers, and thirdly, those charged with war crimes should be dealt with by Syrian courts and not the International Criminal Court because the ICC is struggling with a huge backlog that runs into tens of thousands of cases.
If the talks collapse, it will deal a huge blow to the Syrian peace efforts and can endanger the current ceasefire which has been helpful in sending humanitarian aid to the besieged areas. But what is important is that the government of Syria must approach the talks with the seriousness it deserves and with a genuine desire to find a solution to the conflict. Unfortunately, this determination and sincerity are lacking on the government side and this realization has forced the opposition to rethink their presence in the talks.
Despite intense UN efforts, prospects remain bleak for the peace process, Arguments over Assad’s fate were a major cause of the failure of previous UN peace efforts in 2012 and 2014 to end a civil war that has now lasted five years.
