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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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29Jan16
Syria Talks Are Complicated by Competing Opposition Groups
The latest attempt to reach a negotiated end to the conflict in Syria was meant to include participation by armed opposition groups.
But their representatives had still not fully committed to the negotiations when the government delegation arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with the United Nations mediator, Staffan de Mistura.
The main opposition bloc, the High Negotiations Committee, had refused to participate until government sieges of rebel-held towns were lifted and bombings, which continued on Friday, were halted. Still, its representatives flew to Geneva on Friday — not to negotiate, but to talk to Mr. de Mistura and press their humanitarian case to the public.
Two years ago, in talks in Geneva that eventually fell apart, the Syrian opposition was represented by exile groups that had little or no influence over what was happening on the ground. This time, armed groups, including moderate factions and some hard-line Islamists, were to be among those doing the talking for the opposition side.
Mr. de Mistura had said that the committee and the Syrian government would be the only parties directly involved in the so-called proximity talks that would avoid face-to-face meetings and have Mr. de Mistura shuttling between them. Representatives of some other Syrian groups were also invited to Geneva, but only as advisers, not parties to the talks. (Groups that are designated as terrorist, like the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, were not invited.)
Here are some of the major groups and where they stand regarding the talks.
Syrian High Negotiations Committee
The Saudi-backed coalition was born out of meetings held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in December, and its coordinator is Riad Hijab, who was prime minister of Syria for two months before he defected to the opposition in 2012. He is from Deir al-Zour, a city in the east now controlled by the Islamic State. On Thursday, he strongly criticized Mr. de Mistura's proposals for the talks, calling them "a Russian and Iranian plan" that would be "a disaster for the region."
Mr. Hijab is affiliated with the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, which represented the opposition in the abortive Geneva II talks. The United States and some other Western and Persian Gulf countries regard it is as the main representative body of opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, but it is based in Istanbul and has little sway over events on the battlefield in Syria.
Other central figures in the negotiating committee include Mohammed Alloush of the Army of Islam, a powerful Islamist militia near Damascus, and Asaad al-Zoubi, a former army colonel who now leads the Free Syrian Army in southern Syria. The Free Syrian Army has struggled despite receiving American support, while hard-line Islamist factions have become more powerful.
The Kurdish Democratic Union Party
The party, known as the P.Y.D., is the main Kurdish force in Syria. Its militia controls a substantial area in the northeast and along the Turkish border. Russia wanted the group to be invited to the Geneva talks, but Turkey, which is fighting a Kurdish insurgency of its own, raised strong objections. The Saudi-backed committee also objected, saying it should be the sole opposition representative. The party's leader, Saleh Muslim, said on Tuesday that no Syrian Kurdish officials had been invited to the Geneva talks.
Turkey sees the party as an extension of the group it is fighting, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or P.K.K. The United States considers the P.K.K. a terrorist organization but is working with Kurdish fighters in Syria to fight the Islamic State. And Russia says it would be impossible to negotiate a meaningful peace deal without the Kurds.
"How can we talk about political reforms in Syria ignoring the leading Kurdish party, quite a mighty power that, by the way, actively opposes terrorism on the ground, including ISIS?" Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said on Tuesday. "Not inviting this group would be a most serious mistake."
The (Potential) Advisers
Mr. de Mistura appeared to be seeking a compromise by inviting some groups to be represented in Geneva not as parties to the negotiations but as advisers whom he would consult. The names that have surfaced include political figures allied with the Kurdish party and representatives from other groups that are not part of the High Negotiations Committee, including some backed by Russia or seen as close to the Assad government.
Haytham Manaa, a Syrian dissident and human rights activist who spent years in prison for opposing the Assad family's rule, said that he was invited but that he might not attend. He spoke out for years against armed insurgency and foreign intervention; now he lives in Geneva and leads a new group called the Council of Democratic Syria, which is linked to Kurdish and Arab militias. In a telephone interview, he said Syrians should choose who is invited.
"I represent 22 parties and 70,000 fighters on the ground," Mr. Manaa said. "I feel ashamed of sitting with some names on the same table."
Two other figures in Mr. Manaa's coalition are Kadri Jamil and Randa Kassis. Mr. Jamil was deputy prime minister for economic affairs in the Assad government until he was ejected in 2013; he is seen as close to Russia. Gennady Gatilov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, said Mr. Jamil would "lead the moderate opposition" in Geneva. Ms. Kassis, who is French-Syrian, leads a group called the Movement of the Pluralistic Society.
Jihad Makdissi, the longtime spokesman for the Syrian Foreign Ministry before he defected in late 2012, said he would not attend the first round of talks. "I think that my temporary absence from this initial round may contribute in alleviating the current disputes," he wrote in a letter to Mr. de Mistura published online.
On The Ground, But Not in Geneva
The United Nations never planned to invite groups that are widely regarded as terrorist organizations, like the Islamic State and the Nusra Front.
The powerful hard-line Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham attended the talks in Riyadh in December where the High Negotiations Committee was formed, but then walked out, saying the delegation was too close to the Assad government. Russia had publicly opposed allowing the group and another, the Army of Islam, to take part in talks, a position it restated on Friday.
[Source: By Karen Zraick, The New York Times, 29Jan16]
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 | This document has been published on 01Feb16 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |