Al-Mouallem Blames US and ‘Opposition coalition’ for Deadlock in Geneva 2 Talks

GENEVA,(ST)_Foreign and Expatriates Minister has underscored that the ‘opposition coalition’ delegation and the United States have hampered arriving at common grounds in the week-long Geneva-2 talks.

Walid al-Mouallem, who led the Syrian official delegation to Geneva 2 talks, clarified at a news conference that the talks ended with no tangible results due to the US flagrant intervention in the talks and the non-seriousness and immaturity of the other side [coalition delegation].

“The other side had threatened to abort the talks for several times in the past week and it was obstinate to debate one topic as if we came to the Geneva talks to hand over everything in one hour. This reflects their delusions,” the minister said.

He added that the US intervention in the talks was the other reason for not reaching tangible results.

Al-Moualem reiterated that the Syrian official delegation accepted to discuss all topics to bring about a common ground on which all Syrians agree.

“But, it seems, that the other side did not read the initial Geneva deal and it rejected the common ground.. Are those Syrians ? and can they be partners in building Syria’s  future? “the minister asked.

No moderate opposition in Syria, only terrorists

He lambasted the double-standard policy of the US which supports Iraq in fighting the so-called the ‘Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) and at the same time arms this organization (ISIL) and al-Nusra Front to kill the Syrians.

As for the US decision to resume arming terrorist groups in Syria, Al-Mouallem underlined that the US knows well that there is no moderate opposition in Syria , only terrorist organizations destroying the country’s infrastructures and killing innocent civilians. 

“Last night, I told Lakhdar Brahimi that he should call the US Secretary of State John Kerry to assert his keenness on the political solution and not a military one,” al-Mouallem said.

Forthcoming talks

On the other hand, the minister pointed out that there is a national opposition inside Syria and it must be invited to the talks.”The Syrian government will seek to hold the talks in the homeland.”

“We represent the concerns and interests of our people and if we find that coming back to the talks in Geneva is their demand, we will do that..We, the Syrian Arab Republic’s delegation, will return home to brief our people about what happened. Here I praise the awareness of the people who stood by us,” al-Mouallem said.

Evacuation attempts

Regarding the humanitarian issue, the minister unveiled that there were attempts to evacuate civilians from the old city of Homs but they  failed because the ringleader of the gunmen there threatened to prevent  evacuation.

“The other side ‘coalition’ and their supporters have no control over gunmen on the ground,” he said.

Transitional government

As for the transitional government, al-Mouallem asked:”Who represents the opposition in the forthcoming government?”, adding : “We have first to know the identity of the other side- whether it is Syrian or not- we did not say that the issue of transitional government was not debated. It is  clause No.8 in the 2012 Geneva Communiqué,”.

He asserted that Syria’s destiny is to be determined by the Syrians themselves.

Basma Qaddour