Kurdish-Arab alliance halts Geneva participation
Kurdish-Arab alliance halts Geneva participation
A delegation from Syria’s main Opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee, arrived at the United Nations in Geneva on Monday for a first official session in UN-mediated peace talks overseen by UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.
The session is a prelude to the start of “proximity talks” that special envoy Staffan de Mistura hopes to hold between the Opposition and agovernment delegation.
Talks between Mr de Mistura and government representatives tentatively planned for Monday 11:00 am (1000 GMT) in Geneva have been “rescheduled” to allow talks with the Opposition first, the UN said.
Khawla Mattar, spokeswoman for Mr de Mistura, told AFP there was “the need to meet” with Opposition first, and that a meeting with the government would happen “maybe another day”.
Meanwhile, a coalition of Syrian Kurds and Arabs will not participate in fresh peace talks in Geneva after six of its delegates, mostly Kurds, were excluded from negotiations, a member said Monday.
“We decided on Sunday night to suspend our participation in negotiations so long as the five Kurdish and one Turkman delegates from our list do not receive invitations from UN mediator Staffan de Mistura,” Haytham Manna said.
Mr Manna is the co-president of the Syrian Democratic Council, an alliance formed in December as the political branch of the Kurdish-Arab fighting force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The SDC has sought to take part in the Geneva talks despite being excluded from the main umbrella Opposition group known as the High Negotiations Committee.
Mr Manna said the SDC and other opposition figures who do not belong to the HNC had submitted a list of 35 representatives they wanted invited to the talks.
In addition to SDC members, the list included former Syrian minister Qadri Jamil, and secular activist Randa Kassis. But invites were only issued to 29 of the 35, Manna said.
“Six were informed that their participation would be examined later,” Mr Manna said, specifying that the six were five Kurdish representatives and one Turkman, all from the SDC.
“We decided on Sunday night in Geneva with our Kurdish friends... To suspend our participation.”
He said the discussions on Sunday night had involved Saleh Muslim, head of Syria’s most powerful Kurdish party, the Democratic Union Party.
Despite its sway on the ground and the role of its military wing, which has been key in fighting the Islamic State group, the Democratic Union Party has been excluded from the talks. Turkey considers the party and its military branch, the People’s Protection Units, to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged an armed insurgency against Ankara.
Separately, the United Nations human rights chief on Monday said that no amnesty should be possible for people suspected of committing war crimes or crimes against humanity, as Geneva hosted troubled talks aimed at ending Syria’s war. “We do have a principled position in the United Nations that no amnesties should be considered for those suspected of having committed crimes against humanity or war crimes,” UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said.
