Syrian opposition to attend Monday's Geneva peace talks
High Negotiations Committee to attend March 14 talks 'without preconditions'
March 12, 2016
Syrian opposition to attend Monday's Geneva peace talks
A Syrian opposition group announced Friday it would attend peace talks to be held March 14 under UN supervision.
The High Negotiations Committee will attend the talks "without preconditions", according to a written statement.
"The international community should be clear and resolved on ending the tragedy in Syria. The Syrian people are still being exposed to bombardment, sieges, arbitrary arrests, and forced migration," read the group’s statement.
The group said that during the talks the principles agreed to in the Geneva 1 talks nearly four years ago would be stressed, adding that the partial and temporary cessation of hostilities is not fully being implemented.
The Geneva 1 Conference on Syria, held in June 2012, stressed the formation of a transitional government, maintaining a cease-fire, release of prisoners and delivering humanitarian aid to besieged areas.
Riad Hijab, who heads the committee, said the group was not testing the regime's intentions but instead wants to represent Syrians' justified cause in international circles.
"We want to use all opportunities to alleviate our people's tragedy. In this sense, we believe that the political, military, and humanitarian aspects of the Syrian revolution should be separated from each other, and the pain of the people should not be traded for political desires," Hijab said.
Acknowledging the slim chances of any agreement being reached with the Bashar al-Assad government, Hijab said the regime has been violating the people’s basic rights and continues to carry out murders.
"It [the regime] wants to highlight Daesh’s agenda by axing the political process and excluding opposition forces from diplomatic process," Hijab said.
The U.S. welcomed the group’s decision to participate in talks and expressed strong support for meetings to continue.
A State Department spokesman said the U.S. was now looking forward that the talks were built on the progress that has been achieved since the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement and the delivery of humanitarian access to besieged areas in Syria -- previous preconditions the committee demanded before attending the first Geneva talks in January.
The agency also stated that the terrorist group PKK's Syrian affiliate, the PYD, was not invited to the talks.
"That doesn't mean that we won't have consultations with them [PYD] going forward," according to a spokesman who added that the U.S. position on the group had though not changed and that the group is considered "effective" in the fight against Daesh.
The debate about whether to invite the PYD to the negotiations was raised during the first Geneva talks last January.
Turkey sees the group a terrorist entity but the U.S. names only the PKK as a terrorist organization.
The State Department strongly condemned the Assad regime for removing essential medical supplies from emergency humanitarian aid trucks and for having conducted recent airstrikes that hit civilians in Aleppo and Daraa.
A spokesman described it as violations of the cessation of hostilities deal and urged Russia to use its influence with Assad to stop it.
Asked whether the truce agreement was going to continue, he said the U.S. had indications from the Syrian opposition that it wanted to maintain it.
The cessation-of-hostilities agreement entered into force on Feb. 27 and paved the way for talks to resume, but is only valid for two weeks, according to the Syrian opposition.
Since taking effect, the Assad regime, along with Russia’s backing and support from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, has been accused of continued attacks from the air and on the ground.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to the UN.
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