Geneva-III to be Joined by “Official Syrian Opposition”

Local Editor

The long-delayed Syria peace talks, expected to last six months, opened in Geneva without representatives from the leading opposition group or the Kurdish faction, but the UN promises more parties will be joining the negotiating process.

"The High Negotiations Committee [HNC] decided to participate in the Geneva talks after receiving American and United Nations guarantees," said UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura. "I have good reasons to believe that they are actually considering that very seriously. And therefore to be in a position to probably Sunday to actually start the discussions with them in order to be able to proceed with intra-Syrian talks."

Conflicting information emerged about who will represent the HNC during Geneva-III negotiations, which are designed as "proximity" talks in which the adversaries do not sit face-to-face, but speak indirectly through de Mistura as he moves between several rooms.

According to media reports, "about 30, 35" HNC members would go to Geneva following internal opposition debates held in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, after claiming earlier that a low-status three-man team was en-route to the Swiss city.

In parallel, the official HNC Twitter feed confirmed that its members would be present, but only "for discussions with the UN, not negotiations."

Relatively, representatives of the Syrian government spent over two hours talking to de Mistura on Friday, but declined to make a public statement.

For its part, Russia repeatedly noted that Geneva-III "has no future" without the participation of the Kurdish opposition, which scored major successes against "ISIS" in Syria and neighboring Iraq. The Kurds were blacklisted from the negotiations at the behest of Turkey, which is locked in a stand-off with its own separatist Kurdish minority.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team