U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said despite some concerns about recent violence, he believes “a moment of truth has arrived” as he prepared to launch a new round of peace talks aimed at ending nearly seven years of fighting.
The U.N.-led talks in Geneva due to begin Tuesday are the eighth round since 2012. Many of the prior attempts quickly fell apart amid major disagreements between the Syrian government and rebel delegations, including about whether President Bashar al-Assad should remain in office.
The two sides appear to be in the same position after opposition delegation chief Nasr Hariri told reporters Monday that their goal is for Assad to not be in power when a political transition begins.
U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said Tuesday the Syrian government delegation had not yet arrived in Geneva but was planning to travel there on Wednesday. De Mistura planned to go ahead Tuesday with meetings with opposition figures. Prior rounds of peace talks have proceeded under similar circumstances with one party arriving a day or two late.
De Mistura said he believes it is possible for the two sides to narrow their differences as they negotiate under a framework approved by the U.N. Security Council that calls for a new constitution and elections. But he reiterated that his mediation team will not accept either side entering the talks with preconditions.
“This crisis, one of the worst in the history of the United Nations, now has the potential to move towards a genuine political process,” the envoy said. “We see the emergence of international consensus, and we must begin to stitch the process into concrete results, enabling Syrians to determine their own future freely.”
University of New South Wales senior lecturer Anthony Billingsley says with the gains the Syrian military has made with the backing of Russia and Iran, rebel hopes of toppling Assad are not realistic at this point.
“Everybody apart from some of the opposition groups, and perhaps the U.S., has accepted that Assad need not necessarily go. So there’s a fundamental problem there if the Geneva talks are going to make any progress,” Billingsley told VOA.
The fighting in Syria began in 2011 with peaceful protests against Assad and a government crackdown, eventually leading to a multi-party conflict that has left more than 400,000 people dead and 13 million in need of humanitarian aid.
Victor Beattie in Washington DC contributed to this report.