‘Unconditional’ Syria talks flayed by Doha

DOHA: Qatar’s emir criticized Tuesday what he claimed were unconditional terms for a proposed peace conference on Syria, saying the talks would lead nowhere and should focus on “achieving justice” for Syria’s people.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose country has been a main backer of the Syrian rebellion, criticized “attempts by some to substitute achieving justice for the (Syrian) people, who have paid the heaviest price ... with unconditional negotiations that lack a timeframe and lead nowhere.”
His remarks come as Washington, Moscow and the United Nations are trying to fix a date for the so-called Geneva II talks bringing all sides together to discuss a political solution to the Syrian conflict.
Speaking at the opening of a new term of the Shoura (consultative) Council in Doha, Sheikh Tamim said talks must “reach a political solution that recognizes the Syrian people’s legitimate demands and is based on a timetable.”
Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met US and Russian officials on Tuesday to discuss convening the talks despite disputes over President Bashar Assad’s future and whether his ally Iran can attend.
Hours earlier, Damascus reiterated that Assad will stay in power come what may, casting doubt on the political transition that is the main focus of the proposed “Geneva 2” conference.
Brahimi, the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, conferred with US Under Secretary Wendy Sherman, US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and Russian deputy foreign ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov at the United Nations in Geneva.
A UN source said that even if a conference date could not be announced immediately, the aim was to “at least see that all the parties and groups are ready for a date.”
This is by no means certain, given gaping international divisions over Syria and the disarray among Assad’s opponents.
The Syrian leader himself appears in no mood for compromise.
“Syria — the state, the nation and the people — will remain and...Assad will be president of this country all the time they are dreaming that he isn’t,” the Syrian state news agency quoted Information Minister Omran Zoabi as saying on Monday night.
“One thing is certain, there is no military solution for the conflict in Syria,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Warsaw on Tuesday, asserting again that Assad must go.
“I don’t know how anybody believes the opposition is going to give mutual consent to Assad to continue,” he said.