Montreux - The Syrian peace talks got off to a shaky start, with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Moualam criticising Syrian rebel groups for lacking ideas.
Moualam, whose opening speech on Wednesday lasted more than half an hour, also clashed with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who urged Al Moualam to conclude his speech.
Ban used his opening speech to urge the government, opposition and representatives of some 40 other countries and regional organisations to seize the historic opportunity to end the bloodshed.
“After nearly three painful years of conflict and suffering in Syria, today is a day of fragile but real hope… All Syrians, and all in the region affected by this crisis, are looking to you gathered here to end the unspeakable human suffering, to save Syria’s rich societal mosaic, and to embark on a meaningful political process to achieve a Syrian-led transition,” said Ban.
The conference is attended by dozens of countries -- including South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane -- that had agreed to the 2012 Geneva Communiqué, which calls for an end to fighting and the installation of a transitional government with full executive powers.
On the streets outside the peace conference, supporters of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad brought a sense of the yawning gulf that exists between government and opposition.
Around the negotiating table, the formal order of business was to agree to a transitional government that would remove Assad from office. That’s a red line for the Syrian government and it wasn’t long before there were angry words.
For its part, the Syrian National Coalition called on the government side to immediately sign up to a transitional government.
"Any talk of Assad staying in power would be a derailment of Geneva 1. So we are not in any position to discuss anything before this issue has been decided," said Ahmad Jarba, head of the Syrian National Coalition.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had described the talks as opportunity, but also said the Syrian president must go.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Moscow’s opposition to what he called outside states meddling in Syria.
The Chinese Foreign Minister announced China’s providing additional humanitarian aid and urged the international community to avoid imposing a political solution on Syria.
"The international community should provide constructive assistance to Syria so the two sides can find a middle way and exert the UN’s role as the main channel of mediation, including providing suggestions on how to promote better reconciliation," Wang said.
Regardless of the low expectations, these talks are a breakthrough. For the first time in three years of bitter conflict, the two sides are around a table talking. There is a view that that in itself is an achievement. - SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua
