| CNN International | - |
Geneva, Switzerland (CNN) -- As tense talks over Syria's future proceed in Geneva, the United States has restarted deliveries of nonlethal aid to Syrian opposition groups. The supplies -- communications equipment and other nonlethal aid -- for now are ...
Syria's woes require a grown-up approachU.S. resumes aid to Syrian opposition as negotiator defends 'slow' negotiations
updated 8:56 AM EST, Mon January 27, 2014
Violence overshadows Syria talks
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: U.S. resumes nonlethal aid to unarmed Syrian opposition groups
- U.N. envoy: Women and children will be allowed to leave a besieged old city
- Syria wants a list of men looking to leave Homs
- U.N. negotiator says slow talks can be better
The supplies --
communications equipment and other nonlethal aid -- for now are being
delivered only to unarmed opposition groups, but deliveries could resume
to others soon, two U.S. officials said Monday.
The aid was stopped in
December after Islamist militants raided a warehouse held by the
Western-backed Free Syrian Army. It is being restarted because rebels
have taken measures to strengthen security and prevent supplies from
being diverted to extremists, the officials said, speaking on condition
of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The aid is being sent through Turkey, and delivery is being coordinated by the Free Syrian Army, according to the officials.
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The news may offer faint glimmers of hope to struggling Syrians.
But the talks in Geneva are making little progress on humanitarian issues, let alone complex political questions.
Syria submitted a
document of basic principles for the talks, which the opposition
rejected, state-run Syrian TV said Monday. The document stated that
Syrian sovereignty should be respected and demanded that other countries
stop providing weapons, training and refuge for fighters, and inciting
terrorism, state TV said.
There was already a communique that brought the different sides to the talks.
Opposition groups have long called on the Syrian government to halt its relentless attacks on rebel-controlled areas.
Struggling to survive
Another glimmer of hope
came Sunday, when President Bashar al-Assad's government agreed to let
women and children leave the besieged old city of Homs.
The U.N. envoy leading talks between Syria's warring sides said they could begin leaving the old city as soon as Monday.
But the Syrian
government requested a list of names of male civilians who want to leave
Homs, which appeared unlikely to sit well with opposition groups.
For the desperate people in Homs, known as the capital of the uprising, help can't come soon enough.
Abu Rami, an activist
and resident, said al-Assad's regime has been preventing food and
medical supplies from entering, creating dire needs that have now
reached "a critical stage."
"People can't find the basic material to stay alive," he said Sunday. "People are looking for grass to eat."
Those in need include children, pregnant women and elderly people.
Homs became a symbol of
the uprising as massive street protests against the authoritarian regime
took place in 2011. The city later became the site of a furious assault
by the Syrian government that the opposition said was aimed at
destroying a nascent rebel fighting force at the expense of the civilian
population.
The government has
claimed its troops have sought to eliminate terrorist groups that have
infiltrated Homs. It says it is trying to protect the civilian
population from acts of violence and weed out arms obtained illegally by
radicals.
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Fadel Mohamed Ali,
another activist in Homs, said the old city, surrounded by the Syrian
military and secret police, has no exit. He said there was at least one
bombing and gunfire rang out Sunday.
Behind the scenes,
diplomats and a senior U.S. official at the talks in Geneva described
the humanitarian situation in Homs as dire and said the regime has been
systematically stopping aid from reaching the city.
"The regime is blocking
all convoys of aid to Homs and has been doing so for months," the
official said. "The U.N., with the Red Cross, has been trying to get
these aid convoys through to the city of Homs; the regime is blocking
it. The situation is extremely urgent. Anything the regime says to the
contrary is wrong."
Negotiator: Slow talks are better
Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. envoy mediating the talks in Geneva, acknowledged they're moving slowly.
"I am often accused of
being too slow, but I think that being slow is a better way of going
fast. ... If you run, you may gain one hour and lose one week," he said.
"So we are going slow. I hope that we will continue to be going slow.
So far, I think that the process is continuing, but it's very early."
The stakes are high.
More than 100,000 Syrians have been killed in the conflict and millions
of people have become refugees. The fighting has also had a
destabilizing effect on the wider region.
Opposition groups have pressed for the conversation to switch to the subject of political transition in Syria.
But the thorny issue of
the role of al-Assad in any transitional government -- the opposition
and the United States insist he can play no part -- makes it a very
tough area for the two sides to address.
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