Syrian opposition to leave Geneva talks by Friday

Syrian opposition chief negotiator Asaad Zoubi says all members of High Negotiations Committee will leave peace talks in Geneva by Friday

Syrian opposition chief negotiator Asaad Zoubi speaks at a news conference after a meeting with UN mediator Staffan de Mistura during Syria Peace talks at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, April 13, 2016.
TRT World and Agencies

Syrian opposition chief negotiator Asaad Zoubi speaks at a news conference after a meeting with UN mediator Staffan de Mistura during Syria Peace talks at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, April 13, 2016.

All members of the main Syrian opposition will leave peace talks in Geneva by Friday, their chief negotiator Asaad Zoubi said on Thursday, with little prospect of talks resuming unless the situation radically changes on the ground.

The High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which is backed in the talks with Syrian regime by Western nations and key Arab states, paused its representation on Monday though it agreed to hold technical talks away from the United Nations building.

But the group on Thursday decided to finally draw a line under the negotiations until its demands were met relating to the military on the ground in Syria.

A partial truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow in February, initially reduced violence in the west, but fighting has picked up again, leaving the ceasefire in tatters.

"We say to (regime negotiator Bashar) Ja'afari: if he wants a real national unity government, first he must release the 10,000 women in his prisons, and the tens of thousands more there," another opposition negotiator Mohammad Alloush, representing a major rebel group, told reporters before leaving Geneva.

"And (he must) stop the massacres he is committing every day, so he can be a human with an ounce of nationalism. Then maybe the negotiations will resume."

TRT World and Agencies

Asaad Zoubi, member of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), attends a news conference after a meeting with UN mediator Staffan de Mistura during Syria Peace talks at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, April 13, 2016.

The HNC said on Monday it could not continue given the deteriorating military situation in Syria, lack of progress on humanitarian issues and complete impasse in discussing the release of thousands of prisoners.

Two senior Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the delegation had been given instructions by chief coordinator Riad Hijab to leave the talks by Friday.

"I'm saddened and believe it's a mistake," one diplomat said. "It will be very difficult to find a pretext for them to return given the situation on the ground and now the regime knows that a bombing will ensure they stay away."

This diplomat said efforts were still being made to persuade officials to remain, but it appeared unlikely to happen.

Russian intervention late last year swayed the conflict in Bashar al Assad's favour and a US official told Reuters that Moscow was now repositioning artillery to northern Syria, including near the city of Aleppo.

"It's understandable that the opposition felt unable to stay further given sustained regime attacks on Syrian civilians and continuation of siege and starvation tactics," a second senior Western diplomat said. "Those who back the regime need to get a leash on them."

Referring to the regime delegation, he added that the UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura may decide to continue the talks, which had been scheduled to run until the middle of next week, with those who had yet to "offer any real ideas, to press them to do so."

Declining to take questions on the state of the talks, de Mistura told reporters he would outline where the process stood on Friday.

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