Syria talks deadlocked over power transfer

GENEVA // Syrian peace talks in Geneva were deadlocked on Monday over the explosive issue of transferring power from President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.

Delegates from both sides said they were not planning to walk away from the talks, even though a session on Monday had broken up with no progress after the regime set out a statement of principles that included protecting the country’s sovereignty, preserving state institutions and stopping the threat from “terrorist” groups.

The opposition rejected the regime’s statement, saying talks needed to focus on a political transition, and the UN and Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi ended the session.

“The discussions were not constructive today because of the regime’s strategy to deflect ... [and] change the subject by talking of terrorism,” said Rima Fleihan, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition delegation.

Buthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Mr Al Assad in the regime’s delegation, said the opposition had rejected discussion of anything other than the creation of a transitional government.

She said the government had presented a statement of “political principles which we thought no two Syrian persons should disagree with”.

“We were surprised that this basic paper was rejected by the other side, who either does not have the capacity to acknowledge Syria and its territorial integrity, or they don’t care about what’s happening to the Syrian people,” Ms Shaaban said.

Asked if they were planning to leave the talks, Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Muqdad, said: “Never! We shall not leave the table.”

Ms Fleihan also said there were no plans for the opposition to leave the UN-sponsored talks.

The two sides have been brought together in the biggest diplomatic push yet to end a civil war that has left more than 130,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.

The opposition says Mr Al Assad must leave power and a transitional government be formed based on an agreement reached during a first peace conference in Geneva in 2012.

The regime says Mr Al Assad’s role is not up for debate at this conference – dubbed Geneva 2 – and denies that the initial Geneva deal requires him to go. It also accuses the opposition and its international backers of promoting “terrorism” in the country, pointing to militant Islamist rebel groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and the Al Nusra Front.

The only positive to emerge from three days of talks so far came on Sunday, when Mr Brahimi announced that the regime had agreed to allow women and children safe passage from the city of Homs.

Hundreds of families are believed to be trapped in the city, which has been under siege since June 2012 after rebels there rose against the regime.

Mr Brahimi said on Monday that the both sides were still discussing how to implement the regime’s offer, and that there had been no decision on allowing access for an aid convoy into the city.

“I told you yesterday that there was an agreement by the government that women and children can come out of Old City in Homs, I think they still discussing how that can be done. I think that the government is willing to make it happen, but it is not easy because there are snipers and there are all sorts of problems,” Brahimi said.

He added: “Unfortunately there is no agreement on a ceasefire or the alleviation of the level of violence practised in Syria.”

Besides fighting between Syrian rebels and forces loyal to the regime, the past few weeks have also seen bitter infighting between the Al Qaeda-linked Isil and more moderate groups that has left more than 1,400 people dead across northern Syria.

Reports emerged on Monday that the fighting had claimed a senior figure in Isil earlier this month. The militant, an Iraqi who went by the nom de guerre of Haji Bakr, was killed in the town of Tal Rifaat in the northern province of Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

Also Monday, the international mission to rid Syria of its chemical weapons said a second batch of toxic chemicals has been removed from the country.

The United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said the materials were verified before being loaded onto Danish and Norwegian ships and taken out of the country. The vessels were accompanied by a naval escort provided by China, Denmark, Norway and Russia, the mission said.

The UN spokesman Khaled Al Masri in Damascus said it was the second shipment of chemicals to leave Syria. The first batch of poison gas precursor agents was removed nearly three weeks ago.

* Agence France-Presse with additional reporting by Reuters and the Associated Press