Geneva II negotiations begin with no handshakes, and with only UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi talking
Face to face across a U-shaped negotiating table, beneath the olive-wreathed symbol of the United Nations, Syria's warring parties met for the first time in nearly three years on Saturday under heavy international pressure to prevent the Middle East's bloodiest crisis spinning further out of control.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN mediator, ushered representatives of Bashar al-Assad's government and the rebels fighting to overthrow him into a short opening session in Geneva where he set out his plans for a peace process he has warned is needed to "save Syria" – where 130,000 people have been killed and millions have become refugees. No one else spoke. There were no handshakes, no small talk – and no agreements. Eye contact was minimal.
Intense hostility and relentless propaganda created a charged atmosphere in the Palais des Nations, the UN's elegant Swiss headquarters, with its high ceilings, faded 1930s frescoes and endless corridors. The idea was for the heads of the two Syrian delegations to speak "through" Brahimi rather than to each other. "This is what happens in civilised discussions," the veteran Algerian diplomat said later. "I think it is a good beginning. We haven't achieved much, but we are continuing." The two teams even entered and left the room using different doors.
Plans for a ceasefire to allow aid into a besieged area of the city of Homs were on the table at a second two-hour session as the US and Russia, consulting closely, emphasised the need for tangible achievements and to relieve suffering. "If we achieve success on Homs we hope it would be a beginning that would allow us to be successful on other issues," Brahimi said. Prisoner exchanges are to be discussed on Sunday.
If the start of the long-awaited talks was a landmark moment for diplomacy, it was not a time to show emotions. "Yes, there were mixed feelings," conceded Anas al-Abdah, a member of the opposition team. "It was not easy for us to sit with the delegation that represents the killers in Damascus." Bashar Jaafari, Syria's UN ambassador, felt the same. "We are having to swallow our resentment, but we are here," he said.
Negotiators from both sides often know each other socially, as well as from dialogue before and shortly after the Arab spring protests of March 2011 were crushed in the city of Deraa.
The process could hardly be more difficult. On Friday, it seemed briefly that both sides had accepted the 2012 Geneva I communique – calling for a "transitional governing body" agreed "by mutual consent". By Saturday Omran al-Zoabi, the information minister, had a different message. "Syria is a state with institutions," he insisted. "A transitional governing body happens where the state is in disintegration, or has no institutions. Those who talk about President Bashar al-Assad are talking about removing the man who is leading the war against terrorism."
Not surprisingly, the opposition remains focused on getting rid of Assad. "The transition has begun," declared Munzer Aqbiq, spokesman for the western-backed Syrian Opposition Coalition. "Item number one," Jaafari retorted, "should be putting an end to the terrorism and to the violence."
Walid al-Muallem, Syria's foreign minister and chief negotiator, set the tone at last week's Montreux conference with a long and abusive speech which did not even mention the Geneva agreement. Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, was seen pointing to his watch – clearly signalling Muallem to stop. Hopes that Moscow will somehow eventually agree to ditch Assad remain one of the few ways an exit from the crisis can be imagined.
Ahmad al-Jarba, the Saudi-backed tribal leader who leads the SOC – and whom supporters refer to carefully as "president" – sounds calmer but repeats at every opportunity that Assad must go. That is the demand of armed opposition groups who fear Geneva is a trap – the start of a process that goes nowhere slowly and leaves the regime in place. "Time," Jarba warned, "is a sword, and as it passes more Syrian blood is shed."
The battle for the narrative continued throughout. Spokespeople from each side were mobbed by journalists whenever they emerged to give interviews in the UN gardens. The contrast between the beauty of the setting and Syrian realities is stark. On Friday alone, when the direct talks were due to have started, 87 people were killed in Aleppo, Damascus province and Deraa. Air strikes were reported again on Saturday, with fighting at the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus.
Outside the Palais des Nations protesters are chanting. In the opposition camp, some complained they had been excluded. Kurds – 10% of Syria's population – have only two representatives on the negotiating team. Kurds in northern Syria declared provincial autonomy last week.
"It's definitely a step in the right direction," one independent Syrian journalist said as Brahimi ended the first meeting. "But it's going to be tough – for both sides."
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