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Buildings lie in ruins in Aleppo on Sunday, January 19, after reported air raids by Syrian government planes. The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011. Click through to see the ...
Syria talks off to 'good beginning,' U.N. mediator says
updated 10:18 PM EST, Sat January 25, 2014
Buildings lie in ruins in Aleppo
on Sunday, January 19, after reported air raids by Syrian government
planes. The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 people have been
killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011. Click through to
see the most compelling images taken during the conflict, which is now a
civil war:
HIDE CAPTION
Syrian civil war in photos
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: 66 more dead in Syria, opposition group; 100,000 killed since war began
- "I think this is a good beginning," U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi says
- Humanitarian aid to besieged Homs will be "a test balloon," opposition says
- The U.N. mediator has "promised the opposition he will get to core issues Monday"
Even with the indirect
arrangement, the summit's start was declared to be "a good beginning"
and will continue Sunday, focusing on the release of prisoners and
kidnapped victims, U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said.
"They talk through me to
one another," he said, seemingly backing off an earlier assertion that
the two sides "talked to each other." "This is what happens in civilized
discussion: You talk to the chairman or the speaker."
Brahimi then added: "I'm looking forward to the discussions tomorrow and pray we have some good news."
The stakes for an
agreement are enormous, as more than 100,000 Syrians have been killed in
the conflict and forced more than 2 million people to become refugees.
The conflict has also been mired by accusations that the Damascus
government used chemical weapons and that the opposition includes al
Qaeda-affiliated groups.
As a potential
bellwether, a plan was announced Saturday in which Syrian authorities
would open one of possibly several "humanitarian corridors" in the
country -- specifically, to allow for the delivery of food and medicine
to Homs, where people are starving in a monthslong siege, according to
Brahimi and an opposition spokesman.
The proposed relief to Homs "is like a test balloon," said Loauy Safi, a spokesman for the Syrian opposition.
"We want humanitarian
corridors in all of Syria," he said. "We want to see if the regime will
be able to provide food to people.... They are not hungry. They are
starving."
Brahimi said the Syrian
government will talk Sunday with security advisers about the Homs idea.
"We hope ultimately some convoy of aid, goods, both food and non-food
items, and some medical supplies will be allowed to go into the old
city" of Homs, he said.
Following Saturday's
full day of talks, a Syrian government spokesman didn't immediately
address reporters following the comments by Brahimi and Safi.
The sides are set to
meet again Sunday, with the focus being "prisoners and people that have
been kidnapped to see if something can be done to secure the freedom of
not all but at least some people who have been deprived of their
freedom," Brahimi said.
Safi contended the government is holding 100,000 prisoners of conscience, including women and children.
'Cordial' talks
No one on either side
"got upset with the other," a Western diplomatic official told CNN. The
official did not want to be identified by name in order to speak
candidly about the talks.
Characterizing the talks
as "cordial," the official said that Foreign Minister Walid Moallem did
not attend the talks because opposition representative Ahmed Jabra was
not there.
When the issue came up
of a limited cease-fire to deliver aid to the old town in the flashpoint
city of Homs, the leader of the government delegation, Bashar Jaafari,
indicated he never heard of the idea and had to check with Damascus, the
official said.
But the official disputed the assertion by Jaafari, who is also Syria's ambassador to the U.N.
In fact, allowing aid
for Homs' old town has been in the works for weeks, with the United
States, Russia and the United Nations discussing the proposal, the
official said.
It is "not true they had not seen it before. The Russians had shown it to them," the Western diplomatic official said.
It was one of "several
confidence measures" being prepared for the talks so that Brahimi "would
not go in with a blank sheet of paper," the official said. It has the
backing of "the more than 35 nations directly supporting the talks."
Jaafari, according to the Western diplomatic official, said "let's talk about aid and cease-fires across the whole country."
The official expects
Russia will use its influence over the Syrian government to move the
issue along because it does not want the talks to fail.
In dealing with deeper problems, Brahimi has "promised the opposition he will get to core issues Monday," the official said.
As these discussions
continue, the violence continues inside Syria. The Local Coordination
Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists, reported 66 more
people -- among them seven women and 13 children -- died on Saturday.
Nearly half of those fatalities were in and around the flashpoint city
of Aleppo.
The bloodshed has spread
outside Syria. That includes sporadic violence in neighboring Lebanon,
where attacks have been blamed on direct and indirect allies on both
sides of the Syria conflict.
On Saturday, the U.S.
State Department issued a statement condemning a recent threat by the
al-Nusra Front in Lebanon -- which has the same name as a Syrian al
Qaeda affilaite that's been fighting al-Assad's forces and also been at
odds with more moderate rebel forces.
The group purportedly
said that any area where Hezbollah -- an organization with close ties to
the Syrian government and that the United States considers a terrorist
organization -- has a presence as legitimate targets.
"This threat of terrorism against ... the people of Lebanon is intended to divide the country," the State Department said.
Talks overcome delay
The peace conference
aimed at ending nearly three years of civil war almost collapsed on
Friday, the day face-to-face talks were meant to start. It was only put
back on track after Brahimi met the Syrian government and opposition
delegations separately and both agreed for him to be a go-between.
After the first of two
sessions on Saturday, Brahimi spoke about the need to find common ground
between both sides, according to Syrian state television.
Asked whether they were
willing to talk directly, Monzer Akbik -- a delegate within the main
opposition group, Syrian National Coalition -- said: "Right now this is
the process and this is how it is going on ...There was no handshake.
"I think we all know
that we have the humanitarian issues and we have the transition issues,"
Akbik added, insisting "both issues are going to be discussed" during
the summit.
Following the brief
morning session, U.S. State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said the
opposition had "demonstrated a seriousness of purpose."
"Everyone the opposition
said would show up was there. They went to this morning's meeting with
the intention to engage constructively," Vasquez said.
As to Syria's government, Jaafari said its delegation was engaging in the talks "with an open mind ... to try to thaw the ice."
But neither side has shown much flexibility on perhaps the biggest issue: who will lead Syria.
The opposition
delegation has warned it would not take part in any direct talks unless
it saw movement on the issue of a transitional government -- one that
would not involve al-Assad.
Ahead of the start of
the second Saturday meeting, spokesman Safi of the Syrian opposition,
told reporters "we have started the first "Negotiations will start
Monday on forming a transitional government," he said. "A good number of
the regime delegation did not turn up to the table."
In comments made to
Syrian state television, Jaafari dismissed all talks about negotiating
are based on the Geneva I communique, which called for a transitional
government and for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
"We came here to fight
terror so let's stop the personal contempt and the provocation by the
opposition, their childish play, thinking the Syrian delegation will
withdraw from the talks if they up their demands," Jaafari said.
Complicating matters,
too, is the fact the Syrian National Coalition does not represent all
the opposition groups in Syria, making it uncertain that any agreement
it may reach in Geneva would be respected on the ground.
A military representative may join the Syrian opposition team, opposition members said.
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