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UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday that he will assess next week whether the Assad regime or opposition is trying to sabotage Syria’s political talks in Geneva.
Last Friday, the Assad regime’s delegation walked out of indirect negotiations with the opposition after only three days in Switzerland, insisting that no mention be made of the future of Bashar al-Assad. The head of the delegation, the regime’s UN Ambassador Bashar al-Ja’afari, criticized De Mistura’s handling of the process. Asked about a return to talks, he said only that “Damascus will decide”.
De Mistura said yesterday that the regime delegation will come back to Geneva on Sunday. Syria’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the news, saying the delegation will remain until December 15.
“We shall assess the behavior of both sides, government and opposition, in Geneva,” the envoy said. “And based on that we will then decide how this…can be a building up or not, or a sabotage of Geneva.”
In a sign of pushback against the regime and its key ally Russia, he asserted that the Geneva talks must have priority over other sets of discussions which have been driven by Moscow. These include seven sets of discussions in the Kazakh capital Astana, in which Russia, Turkey, and Iran have declared “de-escalation zones” across Syria, only for the Assad regime to continue their attacks inside some of them.
Russia has also said that it will hold a “national congress” of multiple factions to pursue a political settlement, although this has been postponed so far because of issues such as who will be in attendance.
If either side were seen to be sabotaging the process, it could have “a very bad impact on any other political attempt to have processes elsewhere,” he said.
Just before the regime’s walkout, De Mistura had announced the extension of the discussions to December 15. He is formally based discussions on four areas: governance, a new Constitution, elections, and “fighting terrorism”.
Opposition negotiator Basma Kodmani told reporters on Thursday that the regime had wasted the opportunity for a week of direct negotiations, while the opposition had done all it could:
I think we are showing, through our presence, our behavior, the number of documents we have submitted, the issues we are raising with the UN, that we are here for a very constructive engagement with the United Nations, and that we have no partner so far to talk to.
They are physically not here.
Residents in NW Syria Burning Clothes for Warmth
Syria Direct reports on residents of opposition-held northwestern Syria burning secondhand clothing for warmth.
Last month Abu Mohamed burned bedroom furniture to keep his wife and seven children warm in Atareb in western Aleppo Province. The family then searced for any branches or discarded boxes outside shops, but “those are scarce”.
Now Abu Mohamed and others are burning clothes bought by the kilogram at a local second-hand clothes store. One kilogram of used clothing currently costs around SP200 (approximately $0.40), with four kilos providing one day of heating, cooking, and warming up water. In comparison, one liter of mazot diesel fuel costs around SP275 (approximately $0.50).
