Complications Mar Chances for Syrian Civil War Settlement
Efforts to end two-and-a-half years of bloodshed in Syria are meeting with complications that could further delay a negotiated settlement.
Officials from 11 nations known as the Friends of Syria met Tuesday with members of the Syrian opposition in London. However, despite urging from both the United States and Britain, the Syrian opposition has yet to agree to attend a hoped for conference in Geneva.
Syrian National Coalition President Ahmad Jarba said there can be no talks until there is a clear plan for President Bashar al-Assad to leave.
''If some countries would feel the discomfort from the humanitarian situation due to al-Assad's massacres and wish to wash their hands at the expense of dirtying our hands with a humiliating position, you will hear us say no five times rather than three. No negotiations, no reconciliation, no recognition, no retreat and no to international isolation. However, if the aim was to remove the criminal from power and the war criminals are tried, then we welcome Geneva 2. These are our true demands and this is where we stand, and to build on these principles, together we will rid Syria and the region of the spreading fire. These are requests not conditions. But Geneva 2 cannot be a success without these,” said Jarba.
Assad himself further cast doubts on possible peace talks in an interview that aired Monday night on Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen TV.
"There is no date or factors that will help for it [the conference] to be held. Who are the groups that will participate in Geneva? What is their relationship with the Syrian people? Do they represent the Syrian people? Do they represent the country that made them?" asked Assad.
Assad also said he sees no reason why he should not run for re-election in 2014.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been working with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in an attempt to arrange peace talks in Geneva by the end of next month.
The fighting in Syria has killed more than 100,000 people and forced millions from their homes since March 2011.
Source: Voice of America
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