MESOP Syria Daily: Opposition Sets Conditions for Negotiations

January 05 – 2015 – Syria’s opposition has said that it is prepared for negotiations with the Assad regime, but only after ceasefires, access to humanitarian aid, and releases of detainees are arranged. Former Prime Minister Riad Hijab, who heads the opposition-rebel negotiating committee named last month, set out the terms in a statement on Monday.

The statement declared the “urgency for total adherence” to a UN Security Council resolution, adopted on December 18, “before embarking on further preparations for the negotiating process”. Specifically, it insisted upon…

…lifting the siege imposed on cities and besieged regions in order to enable humanitarian agencies access to deliver aid to all those in need, releasing all unlawfully imprisoned detainees, the cessation of aerial and artillery bombardment of civilians and civilian targets…and other goodwill and confidence-building measures with which negotiations may be possible. The committee also reasserted the principle that “Bashar al-Assad and officials of his regime have no place in any future political arrangements”, while maintaining State institutions, restructuring the military and security services, “affirming Syrian territorial integrity”, and establishing “a pluralistic system representative of all the Syrian people”.

Three rounds of international talks, fostered by Russian military and political intervention, concluded in mid-December with a nine-point plan that envisaged ceasefires, UN monitoring, and opposition-regime talks in January. However, there was no indication of whether President Assad and his inner circle could remain in power at the end of an 18-month political transition.Amid continued Russian bombing in support of regime-Hezbollah-Iranian ground offensives, there has been no sign of an advance towards the negotiations.

Hijab will soon meet UN envoy Staffan de Mistura to discuss the situation:

[There will be] no compromise on the unity of Syrian territory; there is no room for any outside interference in the selection of the opposition’s delegation for negotiations; there is no room for the continuation of Bashar al-Assad, his regime and their symbols in Syria during the transitional period or in any political future. www.mesop.de