The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Syrian opposition to choose PM in push for credibility
- U.S. officials: Use of force not expected in U.N. resolution on Syria
- U.S. and Russia at a 'pivotal point' in Syria talks
| Syrian opposition to choose PM in push for credibility Posted: ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Syrian opposition coalition will appoint a provisional prime minister on Saturday to raise its international credibility as high-stakes diplomacy plays out between Washington and Moscow to resolve Syria's two and a half year civil war, National Coalition officials said. After a week of intense international negotiations that threatened to sideline the Western and Arab backed coalition in the wake of a nerve gas attack on Damascus that killed hundreds of people, coalition officials said they reached consensus that Ahmad Tumeh, an independent Islamist, will be appointed to run rebel-held areas where a decline into chaos threatens to undermine the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad. "We will be appointing a new prime minister tomorrow. It will be the first item on the agenda," coalition spokesman Khaled Saleh told reporters after the first day of a meeting of the 115-member coalition. The coalition has struggled to form a coherent response to a Russian initiative that proposes Assad hands over the country's massive chemical weapons arsenal in return for averting a threatened U.S.-led punitive strike. "The Russian initiative is silent on the very first issue on ensuring accountability. Providing and reaching political solutions does not absolve the regime from the fact that it killed 1,466 innocent civilians," Saleh said. Assad denies responsibility for the gas attacks, which hit rebel-held districts. Russia and the United States agreed on a new push to negotiate an end to Syria's civil war on Friday by reviving an international plan for a "Geneva 2" conference. The original drive for a political solution to the conflict, dubbed the "Geneva" plan and calling for a transitional government with full power, went nowhere as Assad refused to cede power, and the opposition insisted that he could not be a part of any new political order in the country. Coalition member Khaled Khoja said the opposition was still willing to enter into talks with the Assad government if the balance of military power was redressed. "We are not against Geneva 2, but not under these conditions. The balance of power is not right now. What would restore it is either an air strike or weapons for the Free Syrian Army," Khoja said, referring to more sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons that rebel brigades generally lack. Selim Idris, the head of the Supreme Military Council, denied media reports that the first shipment of U.S.-supplied weapons arrived in the past few weeks. The Obama administration authorised giving weapons to the Supreme Military Council in June following several smaller chemical weapons attacks it blamed on Assad's forces. "We would like to know where these weapons are," Idris said. Although not a member of the coalition, Idris has emerged as an influential player with a bloc of 15 members expected to support Tumeh's prime ministerial bid. Tumeh was due to be named on Friday, but several members asked to postpone the vote until Saturday in an attempt to derail the process. Ahmad Jarba agreed, hoping that this would buy time to secure more votes for Tumeh, coalition sources said. The coalition appointed a Qatari-backed candidate as provisional prime minister earlier this year, but he could not form a government and had to resign as the coalition expanded and Saudi Arabia replaced Qatar as the Arab country with the most influence on the group. An aid to Tumeh said: "Do not expect the liberated areas to be transformed overnight. The opposition is under international pressure to raise its credibility, and the idea is that the coalition will become more of an assembly, while the government acts as an executive." Another coalition source said: "The international powers are talking while the coalition is nowhere to be seen. Electing someone like Tumeh will raise its profile." Tumeh, 48, is the secretary general of the Damascus Declaration, a group of veteran opposition figures who led a peaceful resistance to Assad before the revolt. A moderate Islamist from the eastern tribal province of Deir al-Zor, Tumeh was jailed several times during the uprising and was forced to flee the country earlier this year. He was imprisoned from 2007 to 2010 along with 11 prominent opposition members who had demanded that Assad embark on democratic change in the country, which has been ruled by the his family since 1970. Tumeh has worked closely with liberals and Islamists alike, including Riad al-Turk, the main political figure in the Damascus Declaration, who at 82 still operates underground in Syria, despite spending a total of 25 years as a political prisoner. (Editing by Will Waterman) |
| U.S. officials: Use of force not expected in U.N. resolution on Syria Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States does not expect a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria's chemical weapons to include a potential use of military force due to Russian opposition, senior Obama administration officials said on Friday. Their comments suggested Washington will not insist on including the use of force in the U.N. resolution. The officials, who briefed a group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States would instead insist that the resolution include a range of consequences should Syria refuse to give up chemical weapons in a verifiable way. Those consequences could include sanctions, one official said. Independently of the United Nations, U.S. President Barack Obama has threatened the use of force in response to an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria that U.S. officials say killed around 1,400 people. Officials said he still retains that option. But as part of negotiations toward a U.N. resolution on Syria, the United States sees no benefit in trying to include the potential use of force as a consequence if Syria refuses to give up its chemical weapons. The reason is simply that Washington does not see Russia ever agreeing to such a step and could use its veto power to nix such a resolution, the officials said. The U.S. position reflected something of a concession as it relies on Moscow's help to force Syria into an agreement to give up chemical weapons in a verifiable way. Key allies the United States, France and Britain are discussing what should be included in a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would create the framework for verifying that the Syrian government lives up to its disarmament promises. In Geneva, where U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Syria, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the effort toward the U.N. resolution was in its early stages. "We are not going to prejudge the outcome of negotiations that are just beginning in New York. The U.S. has been clear that for any effort to be credible it must be verifiable and include consequences for noncompliance," she said. U.S. officials say they have not backed down from pushing for a tough U.N. resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, the part that covers sanctions and military action. The United States wants to see progress with Russia and the United Nations toward a deal on disarming Syria of its chemical weapons over the next couple of weeks, the officials said. The Obama administration officials said they expected to seek the most stringent range of consequences while Russia seeks the weakest, and that an agreement would be sought by finding a middle ground. Obama has drawn heavy fire from congressional critics for a muddled message on Syria this week. The week culminated with Russian President Vladimir Putin offering Obama an escape hatch by persuading Syria to agree to give up chemical weapons and scolding the American president in a New York Times opinion article. Still, administration officials said they believed Obama was in a position to achieve the outcome he sought, the transfer of Syrian chemical weapons out of the control of President Bashar al-Assad. They rejected the argument made by some analysts that the move still leaves Assad in power to prosecute a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people. They said Assad would be weakened tactically as a result of giving up chemical weapons and could still be forced to give up power through a political process. |
| U.S. and Russia at a 'pivotal point' in Syria talks Posted: GENEVA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S.-Russian talks on eliminating Syria's chemical weapons program have reached a "pivotal point," a U.S. official said, and both nations said on Friday they wanted to renew efforts to negotiate a peaceful end to the war in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Geneva to discuss a Russian proposal under which Syria would sign international treaties banning chemical weapons and hand over its stocks of such weapons to the international community for destruction. The U.S. official said the two sides were "coming to agreement" on the size of Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles and talks were continuing into Saturday. U.S. President Barack Obama, after a meeting in Washington with Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, reiterated that he would insist any deal on Syria's chemical weapons be "verifiable and enforceable. In Washington, senior Obama administration officials said the United States did not expect a U.N. Security Council resolution formalising the deal to include potential use of military force. But officials said Obama retained that option. Independent of the United Nations, Obama has threatened the use of force in response to an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria that U.S. officials say killed about 1,400 people. But as part of negotiations toward a U.N. resolution, the United States sees no benefit in trying to include the potential use of force. The reason is that Washington does not see Russia ever agreeing to such a step and could use its veto power to nix such a resolution, the officials said. Russia holds a veto on the Security Council and previously used it on three occasions when Western powers sought to condemn Assad over the war in Syria. President Vladimir Putin has said the proposal on chemical weapons will only succeed if the United States and its allies rule out the use of force. The U.S. officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said the U.N. resolution could include a range of consequences should Syria refuse to give up chemical weapons in a verifiable way. Those consequences could include sanctions. In Geneva, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the effort toward the U.N. resolution was in its early stages. "We are not going to prejudge the outcome of negotiations that are just beginning in New York. The U.S. has been clear that for any effort to be credible, it must be verifiable and include consequences for noncompliance," she said. After meeting U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Lavrov and Kerry said they hoped to meet in New York in about two weeks, around September 28 during the U.N. General Assembly, to see if they could schedule a new international peace conference on Syria. The talks between teams led by Kerry and Lavrov, which began on Thursday, are at a "pivotal point" and were continuing into Saturday, the U.S. official told reporters in Geneva. Kerry told a joint news conference, "We are committed to trying to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons, in hopes that those efforts could pay off and bring peace and stability to a war-torn part of the world." He hoped a date might be set for peace talks, but added, "Much ... will depend on the capacity to have success here in the next hours, days, on the subject of the chemical weapons." Lavrov, voicing regret at the failure of an international accord reached in Geneva last year, said he hoped a "Geneva 2" meeting could lead to a political settlement for Syria. "We agreed ... to see where we are and see what the Syrian parties think about it and do about it," he said. OPPOSITION DISHEARTENED Assad's Syrian opponents, many of them disheartened by Obama's failure to make good on threats to launch military strikes in response to the August 21 gas attack, say they see no place for Assad after the war. But neither side has been able to finish the fighting, leaving the country's territory divided and its people in misery, including 2 million who are now refugees abroad. The Syrian opposition coalition, which has struggled to form a coherent response to the Russian proposal, said it would appoint a provisional prime minister on Saturday to raise its international credibility. The original drive for a political solution to the conflict, dubbed the "Geneva" plan and calling for a transitional government with full power, went nowhere as Assad refused to cede power, and the opposition insisted he could not be a part of any new political order in the country. National Coalition member Khaled Khoja said the opposition was still willing to enter into talks with the Assad government if the balance of military power was redressed. "We are not against Geneva 2, but not under these conditions. The balance of power is not right now. What would restore it is either an air strike or weapons for the Free Syrian Army," Khoja said, referring to more sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons that rebel brigades generally lack. CHEMICAL REPORT The United States has blamed Assad's government for the August 21 attack, while Russia and Assad say it was the work of rebel forces. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a report by U.N. chemical weapons experts would confirm that poison gas was used in that attack. Ban also said that Assad "has committed many crimes against humanity," although he did not say whether it was Assad's forces or rebels who used chemical toxins in the August attack. There is little sign of compromise inside Syria, where sectarian and ethnic hatreds have been deepened by 2 1/2 years of war that has killed over 100,000 people and forced up to a third of the population from their homes. Assad's forces were on the offensive around Damascus, opposition activists and residents said. Warplanes and artillery were bombing and shelling, notably in the Barzeh neighbourhood, where activists said there were also clashes on the ground. "It seems that the government is back to its old routine after the past couple of weeks of taking a defensive posture from a U.S. strike," said one resident of central Damascus, who opposes Assad. She heard jets overhead and artillery in action. U.N. investigators said Syrian government forces were bombing and shelling hospitals in rebel areas to stop sick and wounded getting treatment, acts that constituted war crimes. Fighters loyal to Assad purposefully denied people medical care as a "weapon of war", they said in a report. WEAPONS PLAN The Geneva talks were part of a diplomatic push that prompted Obama to put on hold his plans for U.S. air strikes in response to the chemical weapons attack. Moscow's proposal also spared Obama facing a vote in Congress on military action that he had appeared increasingly likely to lose at this stage. Three-quarters of Americans support efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria through an international agreement to control chemical weapons, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that shows steady opposition to U.S. military action. In polling this week, about 62 percent said the United States should not intervene in Syria, virtually the same percentage as a week earlier. The United Nations said on Thursday it received a document from Syria on joining the global anti-chemical weapons treaty, a move Assad promised as part of a deal to avoid U.S. air strikes. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, said on Friday that Syria's deputy foreign minister had contacted it with a request for technical assistance. But Assad told Russian state television that he would finalise plans to abandon his chemical arsenal only when the United States stopped threatening to attack. France said a binding U.N. Security Council resolution was needed to police Syria's promise to give up its chemical weapons, insisting the matter cannot be left to the OPCW alone. The State Department said Kerry would travel to Jerusalem on Sunday to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Middle East peace talks and Syria. He will meet his French and British counterparts in Paris on Monday. Experts say removing Syria's hundreds of tonnes of chemical weapons, scattered in secret installations, would pose huge technical problems in the middle of a civil war. (Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles in Geneva, Dmitry Solovyov, Alexei Anishchuk and Thomas Grove in Bishkek, Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason in Washington, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations and William Maclean in Dubai; Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Claudia Parsons; Editing by Giles Elgood, Jim Loney and Peter Cooney) |
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