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SYRIAN PEACE TALKS in Geneva are expected to intensify today as talks turn to political questions and the opposition presses for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
The regime has ruled out discussions of Assad leaving power and the first two days of the UN-sponsored talks focused on humanitarian issues.
In the first tangible promise to emerge from the talks, UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said Sunday the regime had agreed to allow women and children safe passage from besieged rebel-held areas of the city of Homs.
But opposition spokesman Louay Safi said the time had come “to start talking about transition from dictatorship to democracy”.
Solutions
Today he said, “we start to see if the regime is willing to go to a political solution or stick to a military one.”
Brought together by the United Nations, Russia and the United States, the two sides have been meeting in the biggest diplomatic push yet to stem Syria’s bloodshed after nearly three years of civil war.
Erupting after the regime cracked down on protests inspired by the Arab Spring, the conflict has claimed more than 130,000 lives and forced millions from their homes.
Brahimi, who has been acting as a go-between for the two sides, has said he is “happy” with the mood and that the parties are acting with “mutual respect”.
Progress
But he has admitted that progress has been difficult and the two sides are moving very slowly.
The regime’s promise on Sunday to allow women and children to leave the besieged parts of Homs raised some hopes of humanitarian relief, but was greeted by scepticism on the ground.
Activists in rebel areas of Homs said residents had “no trust” in the regime and first wanted aid supplies and guarantees that those leaving would not be arrested.
The Old City of Homs has been under siege since June 2012 after rising against the regime, with an estimated 500 families living with near-daily shelling and the barest of supplies.
Brahimi repeated his hope on Sunday that a convoy of humanitarian aid could enter the besieged area today, saying rebel forces had already agreed and the local governor was considering the issue.
Women and children
Sunday’s talks also touched on possible prisoner exchanges, with the opposition saying it had a preliminary list of 47,000 people held by the government, including 2,300 women and children whose names it had submitted.
Regime officials said it also wanted lists of prisoners in rebel hands, insisting that the issue be discussed “without discrimination”.
With little hope of major political breakthroughs at the talks, mediators have been focusing on short-term deals to keep the process moving forward, including on localised ceasefires, freer humanitarian access and prisoner exchanges.
But the opposition has insisted from the start that talks must move on today to the core issue of a political transition.
It says 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 Assad’s role is not up for debate at this conference — dubbed Geneva II — and denies that the initial Geneva deal requires him to go.
Pitting Assad’s regime, dominated by the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam, against largely Sunni Muslim rebels, the war has unsettled large parts of the Middle East.
Related: No longer under siege: Women and children to be allowed leave Homs>
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Linda,the antagonism is not Muslims vs Christians.Syria is also a proxy war between Iran and Saudis,American and Russia…that’s the middle with all its contradictions !! I.e.,The Saudis are backing up the opposition in Syria and the Army in Egypt ! The only loosers in this conflict are the Syrians themselves.
And the winners will be Qatar and Saudi Arabia who need to pump their gas via Syria to get it to Turkey and into Europe to end Russia’s strangle hold of the market. Pleasing the US no end. It also prevents Iran’s plans to do the same via Iraq and Syria to get to Turkey. Follow the money trail it has blood on it.
Kevin. Remember how this whole mess began? Ordinary Syrians protesting in Homs for a little more freedoms. And the brutal crackdown of those protests and subsequent funerals. The US and the West had nothing to do with it. This has morphed into a Sectarian war between Sunni and Shia. And yes it is a proxy war between Saudi and Iran. Both believing the other are apostates that need to be destroyed.
Mick – you are very naive to believe that nonsense. US plans to topple Assad go back to at least 2001.
Kevin. Were there not peaceful protests in Homs before this civil war began? Did the Syrian Secret Police not open fire on those protesters? Did they not open fire on the funeral processions later? And when the protests spread to other cities did the Assad regime not react with further violence? If I am naive then you are blind.
Same happened in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia etc. No US outrage then? No they supported the crackdowns.
Ask yourself why is Syria so special?
That article was printed in 2011. And was quoting Wikileaks. Since then Wikileaks has on several occasions been found to have released material that has been found to have been selectively edited with an anti US bias.
Mick – Clutching at straws
Do you deny that Wikileaks has been found to have deliberately edited material for political purposes?
Mick – do you deny what a former NATO commander, US Army General Wesley Clarke said in 2007 re information obtained in 2001/2002. That the US would topple Assad?
Any Christians that would be left if Assad left power would be lambs to the slaughter… Saudi backed militias will make sure that the country will never be democratic
Absolutely correct.
Syrian Christians will face a terrible vengeance should the Al Queda / Wahhabist coalition are victorious.
I do not know, but I think some are wrong too about the war in syria, this war is not the result of ethnic conflict, it is rather the resulting conflict is about power a conflict statégie and politics, as Syrian poor pay the bill made daily blood, lives and property.
ethnic groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt between muslim Sunni, Shia, Kurds, Christians, Coptic, … etc, always have, indeed coexist, without incident and has been for three centuries,
then the question is
why the problem of ethnic becomes hot topic in the region.?
for me, the region became unstable since 1948, or rather a few years ….. so be careful ….. intoxe
“Dictatorship to democracy” Thats a laugh, if he goes or not will not bring democracy to that country, the so called Arab Spring has turned to a chilly winter for millions who hoped things may change for the better. There is only ONE real democracy in the middle east!
And speaking that countries name is a no-no around here.
I disagree fundamentally with the title of the news story. There will be no democracy if the SNC somehow managed to obtain power in Syria. They have already said Syria will be an Islamic state. How will there be democracy then? Sharia law courts are already in operation in ‘rebel’ areas. How is that democratic?
Why does the the journal run such stories which have such misleading headlines?
And Assads regime is democratic? That will come as news to Syrians that haven’t had free elections in over 40 years.
Mick – When was the last time Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain held free elections?
You don’t need elections in the middle east if you allow the USA have a military base or two there.
BREAKING NEWS – Saudi Arabian and Qatari regimes spreading democracy?
Absolute nonsense!
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