Syrian opposition urges UN to retake lead in peace process

A Syrian woman heads to a medical center to have her children examined by doctors in the Damscus subrub of Eastern Ghouta recently. (AFP)

BEIRUT: A leading Syrian opposition group called on the UN to retake charge of the peace process for war-torn Syria, on Thursday, after Russia announced it would host parallel talks later this month.
The High Negotiations Committee said Russia was undermining the UN and imposing its own rules for Syria, where over 400,000 people have been killed in a six-year-long civil war.
Russia is a steadfast ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Moscow has sent air support and military advisers to fight alongside Syrian government troops against armed rebels and other opponents. Moscow says it’s fighting a war on terrorism.
The HNC said in a statement it would “not participate in any events held outside the umbrella of the UN,” and accused Moscow of “rehabilitating” the Syrian regime.
The UN has not said whether it will attend talks in Sochi on Nov. 18, 10 days before the international body convenes its own talks between the government and opposition in Geneva.
The Sochi talks will open a fourth track of talks between parties to the deeply intricate conflict in Syria. The UN’s own program out of Geneva has been supplemented by “technical” talks in the Kazakhstan capital of Astana, brokered by Iran, Turkey and Russia, the chief international parties to the war in Syria.
And Russia periodically opens a third track through Cairo. Egypt has provided a base to Syrian reformists seen as acceptable to the Damascus regime.
But with the balance of power in Syria firmly in Assad’s favor — thanks in large part to Russia’s overwhelming military intervention — talks have produced few tangible results, leading the opposition to accuse Russia and Damascus of stalling as they pursue results on the ground.
The Western-backed HNC and various opposition groups have demanded any process stay in line with the legally binding UN Security Council resolution 2254, which mandates a locally led “political transition” for Syria. Other factions, led by the Al-Qaeda-linked Hay’at Tahrar Al-Sham — Arabic for Levant Liberation Committee — have refused negotiations with Damascus.
Assad’s government has refused to put its own future up for negotiations.
France said Russian steps to push Syrian peace talks should be within the framework of UN efforts, which Paris said were the only appropriate forum to discuss a political solution to the civil war.
France, a key backer of the HNC, has struggled to set up its own peace initiative that would see the permanent members of the Security Council come to an agreement on how to move stalled peace talks forward.
“The Geneva process is the only appropriate and internationally-agreed forum to discuss political aspects of the Syrian crisis, especially for an election process and a new constitution,” French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told reporters in a daily briefing in Paris.
She urged all players, including Russia, to abide by UN resolution 2254, which lays the foundations for a future peaceful resolution of the conflict.
“International efforts, including those by Russia, must be within this framework,” she added.