‘Federal Syria’ call stalls peace talks

Talks to end Syria’s brutal five-year conflict were rattled on Thursday by uncertainty surrounding the arrival of a second opposition group and the declaration by Syria’s Kurds, so far excluded from the negotiations in Geneva, of a federal region in parts under its control in northern Syria.

For the first time, UN mediator Staffan de Mistura met with an umbrella delegation, including the so-called Moscow Group, which is demanding an equal seat at the negotiating table in Geneva.

But such a move would be hotly contested by the “official” Opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) — a broad collection of political and armed opposition factions which joined forces in Riyadh last December.

The HNC is due to have a second official meeting with de Mistura on Thursday, where it is expected to insist on its demand to remain the sole opposition representative in the talks.

“That is one of the most important points,” a Western diplomat told AFP, requesting anonymity.

The entry into the talks of the Moscow Group, along with the so-called Cairo and Istana groups, followed Russia’s surprise decision this week to withdraw most of its forces from Syria, where they had been fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

Western governments had voiced hopes the pullout, expected to be completed by the end of the week, could boost the talks by pressuring Assad.

Addressing the US Congress, secretary of state John Kerry said, “Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology and by actions, in what it says, what it believes and what it does.”

But Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that his country could ramp up its presence again if needed “literally within several hours”.

In Geneva, it was not immediately clear what impact the inclusion of the pro-Moscow group would have on the talks, or whether it was a gesture from de Mistura to Russia following the pullout.

The UN has not yet clarified what role the Moscow Group would play but its co-president Randa Kassis told reporters her camp was in Geneva “as a negotiating delegation”.

The Syrian government and an Opposition coalition, however, rejected the announcement by Kurdish parties of a federal region in the country’s north. Citing foreign ministry, Syrian news agency Sana said the declaration “has no legal basis” and would “encroach on Syria’s territorial unity.”