Monday 20 January 2014 14.34 Syria's opposition coalition has said it will boycott this week's peace talks unless UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon withdraws an invitation to Iran to attend.
The Syrian National Coalition only decided on Saturday to attend the conference and reacted with fury to the UN's invitation.
Spokesman Louay Safi announced on the coalition's Twitter account that the opposition group would withdraw "unless Ban Ki-moon retracts Iran's invitation".
The threat came only hours after international leaders had hailed the coalition's decision to take part in negotiations.
Iran pledged to play a "positive and constructive role" in efforts to end the war.
It said it had accepted the invitation to attend the talks and would do so without preconditions.
Mr Ban said he made the late invitation after intensive talks over two days with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who agreed to attend.
Iran's involvement means all key countries linked to the worsening conflict will be among 40 nations at the opening of the peace conference in Montreux, Switzerland on Wednesday.
The United States and other Western powers had opposed Iran's attendance at the meeting as long as it refused to accept a communique adopted by the major powers in Geneva last year calling for a transitional government in Syria.
France said Iran should not be allowed to attend the international peace talks if it does not accept the creation of a transitional government with full executive powers.
In a statement, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said participation in the Geneva 2 talks was conditional on accepting that mandate.
Up to this weekend, Iran had said it would attend the peace conference as long as there were no conditions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the absence of Iran from the talks would be an "unforgivable mistake".
"Not to ensure the presence at this event of all those who may directly influence the situation, I think, would be an unforgivable mistake," said Mr Lavrov, adding that he fully supported Mr Ban's "responsible and principled" decision to invite Iran to the Geneva II conference.
Talks between President Bashar al-Assad's government and the opposition are due to start in Geneva on Friday.
Iran is a key financial and military backer of President Assad while Mr Ban has already invited Saudi Arabia, a major supporter of the Syrian opposition.
Mr Ban told a press conference that "Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and I agree that the goal of the negotiations is to establish, by mutual consent, a transitional governing body with full executive powers".
The UN secretary-general added: "He assured me again and again that Iran, if they are invited, then they will play a very positive and constructive role."
Mr Ban had joined Russia in arguing for Iran's presence at the meeting.
"I believe strongly that Iran needs to be part of the solution to the Syrian crisis," Mr Ban said.
He added that he had embarked on the talks with Mr Zarif in a bid "to create the best possible atmosphere for the success of this crucially important undertaking".
There will now be 40 countries and a group of regional bodies at the opening meeting, which will be the most intensive diplomatic effort yet to end a war that the UN says has left over 100,000 dead.
Mr Ban said that as host of the peace conference, he also made last-minute invitations to Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea and the Vatican.
He said the extra countries would be "an important and useful show of solidarity in advance of the hard work that the Syrian government and opposition delegations will begin".
The United States and Russia played key roles convincing pressing the opposition and President Assad to send delegations to the conference, which has been pushed back several times.
They will attend alongside the other permanent members of the UN Security Council including China, Britain and France and additional countries suffering fallout from the war, such as Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.
Mr Ban said it was vital for the ministers at the Montreux meeting to urge the Syria protagonists "to act and negotiate in good faith for their own future".
"This violence must stop for humanity and for the future of Syrians," said the head of the United Nations.
It has launched its biggest ever operation to help refugees from the conflict and millions inside Syria who have been left homeless and without food.
More than 2.3 million people have fled the country and some 6.5 million are displaced inside Syria.
Tánaiste calls for humanitarian assistance
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has said he will be pressing hard for more to be done to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Syria during discussions with his EU colleagues in Brussels today.
Mr Gilmore said: "I think there are many people who are questioning how inspectors can get through to deal with chemical weapons, but yet the humanitarian aid is not getting through to the people who need it."
The Tánaiste said he believed a stronger resolution was needed at the United Nations to address the problem, and he would be asking his EU partners to support such a move.
Mr Gilmore said there were "huge numbers in need of food, medicine and shelter".
Assad may seek new term
Meanwhile, President Assad has said there is a "significant chance" he will run in the presidential elections in June.
If "there is public desire and a public opinion in favour of my candidacy, I will not hesitate for a second to run for election".
"In short, we can say that the chances for my candidacy are significant," added Mr Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez in 2000.
Speaking at the presidential palace in Damascus, Mr Assad also said he expected his country's bloody conflict to drag on, calling it a "fight against terrorism".
In an interview with AFP, he dismissed the opposition as having been "created" by foreign backers.
And he described the possibility of appointing key opposition figures to the post of prime minister as nothing more than "a good joke".
They "come to the border for a 30-minute photo opportunity and then they flee," he said. "How can they be ministers in the government?"
"These propositions are totally unrealistic, but they do make a good joke!"
The Syrian leader said he expected the country's conflict to grind on, although he said his forces were making progress.
"What we can say is that we are making progress and moving forward. This doesn't mean that victory is near at hand; these kinds of battles are complicated, difficult and they need a lot of time," he said.
"Should Syria lose this battle, that would mean the spread of chaos throughout the Middle East," he added.
Mr Assad said peace talks should focus on his "war on terrorism", despite the opposition's insistence the talks would lead to his departure from office.
"The Geneva conference should produce clear results with regard to the fight against terrorism in Syria," he said.
"This is the most important decision or result that the Geneva conference could produce. Any political solution that is reached without fighting terrorism has no value."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Syrian opposition threatens boycott over Iran move
Dengan url
http://newsdeadlineup.blogspot.com/2014/01/syrian-opposition-threatens-boycott.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Syrian opposition threatens boycott over Iran move
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Syrian opposition threatens boycott over Iran move
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar