| Syria transition plan okayed |
GENEVA World powers agreed on a Syria transition plan on Saturday with a unity government to include members of the present administration, although envoy Kofi Annan said he doubted Syrians would “select people with blood on their hands”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow had convinced other parties to accept that the transition would be decided by Syrians and that no party should be excluded from the process as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that Washington did not see any role for President Bashar Al Assad in the new dispensation, even though there was no explicit call for him to cede power.
While Annan did not name names and said it was up to the Syrians to decide who they want in a unity government, he added: “I would doubt that Syrians... would select people with blood on their hands to lead them.”
The deal came despite initial pessimism from participants about the prospects of the Geneva talks due to deep divisions between the West and China and Russia on the future of Assad.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also stressed that “outsiders cannot make decisions for the Syrian people.”
“How exactly the work on a transition to a new stage is conducted will be decided by the Syrians themselves,” Lavrov said. “There are no demands to exclude from this process any one group. This aspect had been present in many of our partners’ proposals. We have convinced them that this is unacceptable,” Lavrov added.
Clinton said: “Assad will still have to go. He will never pass the mutual consent test,” said Clinton.
Asked what the transition plan spelled for Assad, Annan said: “The document makes it clear that we have provided guidelines and principles to assist the Syrian parties as they move ahead with the transition and establish a transition government and go through changes required.
The future of Assad “will be left to them.”
Pressed if members from the present government who have engaged in repression would be part of the interim government, he said: “People with blood on their hands are hopefully not the only Syrians.
“I would doubt that Syrians... would select people with blood on their hands to lead them.”
Yang said: “A plan of political settlement on the Syrian issue can only be Syrian-led and acceptable to relevant parties in Syria. Outsiders cannot make decisions for the Syrian people,” he said.
“We are here to agree on guidelines and principles for a Syrian-led political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people,” Annan said in opening remarks.
“No one should be in any doubt as to the extreme dangers posed by the conflict - to Syrians, to the region, and to the world.”
His appeal gave a note of urgency to the need for world powers to move closer in their positions as the 16-month-old conflict in Syria deepens. His plan for a negotiated solution is the only one on the table.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Assad and his close associates could not lead any transition. Accountability for war crimes must be part of such a process, he added in his speech to the meeting.
Hague called for the UN Security Council to start drafting a resolution next week setting out sanctions against Syria, a move that he noted put him at odds with Russia.
The foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain - were all attending the talks along with Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League chief Nabil ElAraby and the EU’s Ashton.
As the diplomats reached a decision at the UN complex by the shores of Lake Geneva, the Syrian army rained mortar fire on pro-opposition areas in Deir Al Zor, Homs, Idlib and the outskirts of Damascus, opposition activists said.
Government troops were fighting rebels of the Free Syria Army in several places. Syria’s border with Turkey was also tense following a Turkish military build-up in response to Syria’s shooting down of a Turkish warplane last week.
Also present was Norwegian Major General Robert Mood, who headed a failed UN ceasefire monitoring mission to Syria and was witness to some of the violence.
Iran, Syria’s closest regional ally, and Saudi Arabia, a foe of both Damascus and Teheran and leading backer of the rebel forces opposing Assad, are not represented. Nor is anyone from the Syrian government or opposition.
United Nations chief Ban, opening the closed-door meeting, underlined the need to reach an agreement “today”.
US defence chiefs said on Friday that Turkey was showing restraint after Syria shot down one of its aircraft and played down Ankara moving troops to the border.
The US military’s top officer General Martin Dempsey said his Turkish counterpart, General Necdet Ozel, was “taking a very measured approach to the incident.”
Dempsey, who told reporters he had spoken recently with Ozel, acknowledged there was a “risk of escalation” after Syria’s “hostile act.”
Agencies
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