UN Launches Syria Peace Talks as Opposition Ends Boycott
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The main Syrian opposition grouping agreed to attend UN-sponsored peace talks which began in Geneva on Friday, reversing a boycott that had threatened to wreck the first attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the war in two years.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has invited the Syrian government and an opposition umbrella group to Geneva for "proximity talks", in which they would meet in separate rooms.
Until the last minute, the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) had refused to attend. The group, which includes both armed and political opponents of Assad, had insisted it wanted an end to airstrikes and sieges of towns before talks could start.
Late on Friday, a spokeswoman said the HNC were coming to Geneva for discussions with de Mistura and the United Nations. They did not intend to engage directly in a political process with the Syrian government.
The spokeswoman, Farrah el Atassi, said the HNC had received guarantees that their demands would be met, Reuters reported.
De Mistura opened the talks on Friday by meeting the Syrian government delegation. He said that while he had not yet received formal notice that the HNC would attend, he expected to meet its delegation on Sunday.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had made a major push to get the HNC delegation to Geneva.
"Secretary Kerry has been in touch with all of his counterparts, including this (Friday) morning with (Russian Foreign Minister) Sergei Lavrov ... and with others, trying to find a way, a formula, in which we can urge the delegation or some version of the delegation to show up here," a senior US official said.
The Syrian government delegation, headed by United Nations ambassador Bashar al Jaafari, arrived at the talks on Friday afternoon but made no statement.
Another major force, the Kurds who control much of northeast Syria and have proven one of the few groups capable of winning territory from Daesh (also known as ISIL), were excluded from the talks after Turkey demanded they be kept away. The Kurds say their absence means the talks are doomed to fail.