The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

No face-to-face meeting in Syria talks

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Syria’s warring sides are not sitting in the same room in the Geneva peace talks despite efforts by U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi to bring them together.

Instead Brahimi is meeting with representatives of President Bashar al-Assad’s government at 11:00 a.m. (1000 GMT) and will meet later at 4:00 p.m. with a delegation from the Syrian National Coalition, Alessandra Vellucci, a U.N. spokeswoman, said.

“Both meetings will be bilateral,” Agence France-Presse quoted her as saying.

However, Vellucci did not rule out direct talks later.

“You have to understand that the peace process is being shaped at the moment. You have to be patient,” Vellucci said, when pressed by reporters for details of the talks.

She added: “This process is shaping up, so there have been changes to previous declarations,” emphasizing “we are going step by step.”

Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban, meanwhile, blamed the opposition, saying her delegation is willing to negotiate.

One opposition delegate told Reuters that the opposition will not meet with the delegation led by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem until it endorses the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012 calling for a transitional governing body to be established.

“We have asked the U.N. envoy for the regime to sign on to Geneva 1 and we will not meet them until they do so,” he told Reuters.

Muallem, however, reiterated on Friday that his government will not accept the opposition’s demand for a transitional governing body.

Opposition delegate Haitham al-Maleh told Reuters: “We have explicitly demanded a written commitment from the regime delegation to accept Geneva 1. Otherwise there will be no direct negotiations.”

Sources within the two delegations told AFP the opposition had balked at sitting with the regime, insisting the government accept the need for a transition government without Assad before face-to-face talks.

Diplomats said Brahimi had planned to bring the government and opposition delegations together for a joint meeting to start a negotiating process aimed at resolving nearly three years of conflict in Syria.

(With Reuters and AFP)