U.S., Russia endorse political solution in Syria

12 January 2013

www.thehindu.com/news/international

Senior officials from the United States and Russia, during their talks with Lakhdar Brahimi — the United nations and Arab League envoy on Syria — have endorsed the six-month old Geneva Communiqué as the touchstone for the resolution of the Syrian conflict.

Meeting in Geneva on Friday, the trio, which apart from Mr. Brahimi, included Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s West Asia envoy; and William Burns, the Deputy Secretary of State of the United States, agreed that there was no military solution to the Syrian situation.

“In our view, there is no military solution for this conflict,” said Mr. Brahimi during a media conference. The Geneva plan calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body in Syria, in which members of Syrian government and the opposition are represented. Significantly, the plan does not call for the exit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Geneva communiqué was issued after a meeting of the ‘action group’ for Syria, which comprised the Secretaries-General of the U.N. and the Arab League; the Foreign Ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council, the Foreign Minister of Turkey, the foreign policy chief of the European Union and top diplomats from Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar.

Despite the agreement on common principles, contradictory signals were emerging from the U.S., which, contrary to the spirit of the Geneva Communiqué, expressed its discomfort with the possibility of Mr. Assad continuing in office during the transitional phase.

Russia calls for ‘transition process’ in Syria

But Moscow reiterates only Syrians themselves can decide their fate

12 January 2013

AFP

www.gulfnews.com

Moscow: Russia called Saturday for the launch of a political transition process in Syria, a day after peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met with diplomats from Moscow and Washington in a bid to resolve the nearly two-year-old conflict.

But Moscow also reiterated its long-held position that only Syrians themselves could decide their fate without outside interference.

“In our opinion, the priority task is to immediately stop any violence and bloodshed as well as provide Syrians including internally displaced persons and refugees with humanitarian aid,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

“At the same time it is necessary to secure the launch of a political transition process in Syria aimed at enshrining in law guaranteed and equal rights of all ethnic-confessional groups of this country.

“As in the past, we firmly support a premise that issues of Syria’s future should be solved by Syrians themselves, without outside interference and the imposition of ready-made recipes.”

UN-Arab League special envoy Brahimi on Friday met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns in Geneva.

The discussions took place a day after Syria accused Brahimi of “flagrant bias”, casting doubt on whether he could stay on as international mediator.

In the statement, Moscow stressed its “unchanged” support for Brahimi’s peace mission, adding that it would support further trilateral talks.

Russia also reiterated its support for a transition plan that was agreed in Geneva on June 30, 2012, but has since split world powers.

“We proceed from the fact that this consensus-based document remains fully relevant as the only platform to overcome the protracted crisis in Syria,” the foreign ministry said.

Commenting on the story, Ribal Al-Assad, Director of the ODFS, said:

“I welcome endorsement of the Geneva Communiqué as the basis for the resolution of the Syrian conflict by the United States and Russia. There is no military solution to the conflict.

“I call on the UN, US, Russia, EU and Canada to bring together all the Syrian opposition groups onto one platform so they become a genuinely inclusive opposition, which works towards a diplomatic solution based on the Geneva Communiqué, which is based on the principles of the Kofi Annan Plan, which are to de-escalate the violence and have a ceasefire leading to a peaceful Syrian led transition through dialogue and negotiation.”