SitiWanMahani – Persidangan keamanan di Switzerland, yang bertujuan untuk menja-tuhkan kerajaan Syria dan pembangkang yang bermula dengan ucapan yg menyalahkan dan hujah pahit antara ketua PBB dan perwakilan Syria.
Menteri Luar Syria Walid Muallem menggunakan peluang dalam perhimpunan itu di Montreux untuk mengkritik Gabungan Kebangsaan Syria, yang berpangkalan di Turki organisasi disokong-Barat, yang juga menyertai persidangan itu dan sepatutnya menjadi wakil utama pembangkang.
Muallem dicat gambaran suram apabila menerangkan banyak bahaya rakyat Syria kini berkekalan, manakala menuduh sesetengah negara asing, termasuk Turki, menyokong pengganas di Syria. Tetapi gabungan itu - yang kebanyakannya terdiri daripada dirinya dibuang Syria yang tidak berada di negara ini selama bertahun-tahun - adalah subjek cemuhan tertentu.
Sebagai Menteri itu letupan SNC untuk menjual kesetiaan mereka kepada pembida ter-tinggi dan menikmati kehidupan yang selesa di hotel-hotel 5 bintang sementara orang mati di atas tanah di Syria, Setiausaha Agung PBB Ban Ki-moon terganggu ucapan itu, bertanya sama ada beliau perlu banyak masa untuk sehingga ia membalutnya.
‘You LIVE in NY, I LIVE in SYRIA; let me tell our Version
Of Story’ – Syrian FM to UN Chief
The peace conference in Switzerland, which is meant to bring down the Syrian government and opposition, began with condemnatory speeches and a bitter argument between the head of the UN and the Syrian delegation.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem used the opportunity of the gathering in Montreux to criticize the Syrian National Coalition, a Turkey-based West-supported organization, which is also participating in the conference and is supposed to be the prime representative of the opposition.
Muallem painted a bleak picture when describing the many perils the Syrian people are currently enduring, while accusing some foreign nations, including Turkey, of supporting terrorists in Syria. But the coalition - which mostly consists of self-exiled Syrians who have not been in the country for years - was the subject of particular scorn.
As the minister was blasting the SNC for selling their allegiance to the highest bidder and enjoying a comfortable life in five-star hotels while people died on the ground in Syria, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon interrupted the speech, asking whether he needed much time to wrap it up.
Menteri Luar Syria Walid al-Moualem membawa delegasinya semasa sesi pleno di Montreux 22 Jan 2014. (Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem leads his delegation during a plenary session in Montreux January 22, 2014. (Reuters/Gary Cameron – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
Satu perdebatan sengit di antara Ban dan Muallem diikuti, sebagai menteri Syria me-negaskan bahawa beliau perlu menyimpan lantai lagi. “Anda tinggal di New York, saya tinggal di Syria,” kata Muallem. “Biar saya memberitahu versi kami ceritanya. Anda telah bercakap selama 25 minit. Saya memerlukan sekurang-kurangnya 30 minit.”
Ban kembali lantai (yakni sengaja tak melayan) untuk Muallem, hanya untuk mengganggu dia lagi dan lagi berdozen2 minit kemudian. Selepas beberapa minit tambahan, dia senbunyikan kenyataan itu. Ucapan Muallem ini adalah satu yang konfrontasi, dan Ban berkata beliau berharap ketua SNC Ahmad Jarba yang bercakap depan, akan menjadi kurang bermusuhan. Ini tidak berakhir dgnNya.
Jarba berjenama Presiden Syria Bashar Assad pengganas dan menuduhnya memudahkan kebangkitan pengganas Al-Qaeda di negara itu. Beliau menyatakan dengan jelas bahawa gabungan itu tidak bersedia untuk menangani Assad dan melihat peletakan jawatannya adalah matlamat perhimpunan tersebut.
Kenyataan itu pemimpin pembangkang pergi sepanjang garis yang Setiausaha Negara Amerika Syarikat John Kerry, yang bercakap lebih awal dan berkata dari segi jelas, bahawa Washington tidak membayangkan tempat untuk Assad dalam kerajaan peralihan masa depan Syria.
Nampaknya perunding akan berjuang perjuangan yang berat untuk membawa pihak-pihak dalam konflik tersebut untuk apa-apa perjanjian.
A bitter debate between Ban and Muallem followed, as the Syrian minister insisted that he should keep the floor longer. “You live in New York, I live in Syria,” Muallem said. “Let me tell our version of the story. You’ve spoken for 25 minutes. I need at least 30.”
Ban returned the floor to Muallem, only to interrupt him again a dozen minutes later. After a few additional minutes, he wrapped up the statement. Muallem’s speech was a confrontational one, and Ban said he hoped that SNC head Ahmad Jarba, who spoke next, would be less antagonistic. This did not eventuate.
Jarba branded Syrian President Bashar Assad a terrorist and accused him of facilitating the rise of Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in the country. He made it clear that the coalition is unwilling to deal with Assad and sees his resignation is the goal of the gathering.
The opposition leader’s statement went along the lines of that of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who spoke earlier and said in unambiguous terms, that Washington does not imagine a place for Assad in the future transitional government of Syria.
It appears that negotiators will be fighting an uphill battle to bring the parties in the conflict to any agreement.
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