Utusan untuk Syria PBB - Liga Arab Lakhdar Brahimi meninggalkan taklimat akhbar di Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu pada 28 Januari 2014, di Geneva. (AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
SitiWanMahani – Hari yang ke-4 rundingan damai Geneva 2 telah dihentikan lebih awal daripada dijadualkan berikutan pertukaran sengit tuduhan dari kedua-dua pihak pem-bangkang dan kerajaan Syria ke atas semula dakwaan bantuan ketenteraan Amerika Syarikat kepada pemberontak.
Rundingan itu dipotong pendek oleh pengantara Liga Arab - PBB Lakhdar Brahimi berikutan sesi pagi apabila delegasi pembangkang menolak nota aduan rasmi yang disampaikan oleh delegasi kerajaan Syria mengkritik semula bantuan Amerika Syarikat.
“Kami percaya ini tidak hadir yang terbaik untuk persidangan Geneva,” kata Faisal al- Mikdad, Timbalan Menteri Luar Syria, memanggil keputusan Amerika” manifestasi lain” sokongan Amerika Syarikat untuk “kumpulan pengganas” di Syria.
“Ini membuktikan sekali lagi bahawa Amerika Syarikat tidak berminat dalam kejayaan proses ini, dan kami percaya Amerika Syarikat telah berhenti dan hentikan tuntutan bahawa ia berminat untuk kejayaan persidangan ini,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas mesyuarat itu.
Imbas pernyataan yang dikemukakan oleh delegasi rasmi Syria (Scan of the statement submitted by the Syrian official delegation (Image from sana.sy - think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
Penyata kutukan berkata Amerika Syarikat, dengan memilih untuk keringat pemberontak, membuat “keputusan provokatif” melanggar resolusi Majlis Kesela-matan no. 1371, sebagai senjata yang dibekalkan akan berakhir di tangan pelampau seperti al-Nusra Front dan Barisan Islam. Kenyataan itu bahawa masa keputusan ini adalah benar-benar mengejutkan, kerana ia berfungsi “Seba-gai cubaan langsung untuk menghalang mana-mana penyelesaian politik di Syria.”
Pada Isnin, Reuters melaporkan bahawa “sederhana” puak pemberontak Syria sedang dilatih oleh Amerika Syarikat selepas Kongres Amerika Syarikat rahsia meluluskan langkah-langkahnya.
Senjata yang didakwa mencapai Syria melalui Jordan termasuk pelbagai senjata kecil, dan dipercayai termasuk roket anti-kereta kebal dan pelancarkan-bahu permukaan-ke-udara peluru berpandu.
Pada Isnin, Amerika Syarikat menolak melengkapkan pemberontak, mengatakan bahawa “mana-mana tanggapan bahawa kami menyokong pengganas adalah munasabah.”
“Rejim Assad adalah sebuah magnet untuk pengganas,” kata jurucakap Jabatan Negara Amerika Syarikat Edgar Vasquez dalam satu kenyataan. “Kekejaman Rejim ini adalah sumber ekstremisme ganas di Syria hari ini. Kami menyokong pembangkang politik dan tentera yang sederhana yang berjuang untuk kebebasan dan martabat semua rakyat Syria.”
Sebaliknya, Vasquez menyalahkan kerajaan Assad melemahkan rundingan, berkata doku-men itu “menunjukkan bahawa rejim itu mengelakkan tujuan teras rundingan Geneva.”
PBB enggan mengulas laporan mengenai keputusan itu oleh Kongres Amerika Syarikat untuk meluluskan penghantaran senjata kecil untuk pembangkang Syria, tetapi Brahimi memberitahu agensi berita Itar - Tass bahawa dia tidak melihat kenyataan rasmi menge-nai isu itu oleh Washington.
Dalam pada itu, Menteri Luar Rusia, Sergey Lavrov berkata mempersenjatai pembangkang bermakna pengganas membekalkan senjata.
“Bekalan New senjata maut dan bukan maut ke kawasan konflik Syria meletakkan asas untuk menyokong pengganas,” Lavrov kepada wartawan di Brussels pada hari Selasa di mana Kesatuan Rusia- Eropah sidang kemuncak itu diadakan.
Perbincangan pada hari Selasa sepatutnya memberi tumpuan kepada pemindahan kuasa dan memberikan bantuan kepada bandar Homs, tetapi tidak ada perkembangan ke arah penyelesaian isu utama sama ada Presiden Bashar Assad perlu meletak dan memindahkan kuasa kepada sebuah kerajaan peralihan.
Rundingan untuk bergabung semula pada Rabu, Lakhdar Brahimi, ketua orang tengah PBB, kepada pemberita, kerana dia berharap untuk “sesi yang lebih baik.”
“Tiada siapa yang berjalan keluar,” kata Brahimi, “Tiada siapa yang melarikan diri.”
“Kami belum mencapai sebarang kejayaan, tetapi kita masih pada itu, dan ini adalah cukup baik setakat yang saya tahu,” kata Brahimi.
Seorang ahli pasukan perunding pembangkang, Rima Fleihan, berkata orang tengah PBB Lakhdar Brahimi telah membatalkan sesi tengah hari “kerana Saudi tidak bekerja sama mengenai sebarang subjek, bukan pada isu-isu kemanusiaan dan tidak pada badan pentad-biran peralihan.”
Beliau berkata wakil-wakil kerajaan ditolak “visi” pembangkang untuk Syria. “Kita mem-punyai wawasan, malangnya rejim dibentangkan apa-apa dan menolak semua perbin-cangan.”
The fourth day of the Geneva 2 peace negotiations has been halted earlier than scheduled following a fierce exchange of accusations from both the opposition and the Syrian government over the alleged resumption of US military aid to the rebels.
The talks were cut short by the UN-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi following the morning session when the opposition delegation rejected an official complaint note presented by the Syrian government delegation criticizing the resumption of US aid.
“We believe this is not the best present to the Geneva conference,” said Faisal al-Mikdad, Syria’s deputy foreign minister, calling the American decision “another manifestation” of US support for “terrorist groups” in Syria.
“This proves again that the United States is not interested in the success of this process, and we believe the US has to desist and stop its claims that it is interested in the success of this conference,” he told reporters following the meeting.
The statement of condemnation said that the US, by choosing to arm rebels, made a “provocative decision” in violation of the Security Council resolution no. 1371, as weapons supplied will end up in the hands of extremists such as al-Nusra Front and the Islamic Front. The statement noted that the timing of this decision was truly surprising, as it serves “as a direct attempt to obstruct any political solution in Syria.”
On Monday, Reuters reported that “moderate” Syrian rebel factions are being armed by the United States after the US Congress secretly approved the measures. Weapons which allegedly reach Syria via Jordan include a variety of small arms, and are believed to include anti-tank rockets and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles.
On Monday, the US rejected arming the rebels, saying that “any notion that we support terrorists is ludicrous.”
“The Assad regime is a magnet for terrorists,” US State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said in a statement. “The regime’s brutality is the source of the violent extremism in Syria today. We support the moderate political and military opposition who are fighting for the freedom and dignity of all the Syrian people.”
Instead, Vasquez blamed the Assad government of undermining the talks, saying the document “shows that the regime is evading the core purpose of the Geneva talks.”
The UN refused to comment on reports of the decision by the US Congress to approve the delivery of small arms to Syrian opposition, but Brahimi told the Itar-Tass news agency that he had not seen an official statement on the issue by Washington.
In the meantime, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov said that arming the opposition translates into arming terrorists.
“New supplies of lethal and non-lethal weapons to the Syrian conflict area lay groundwork for supporting terrorists,” Lavrov told journalists in Brussels on Tuesday where Russia-European Union summit was being held.
Tuesday’s talks were supposed to focus on the transfer of power and providing aid to the city of Homs, but there was no progress toward resolving the key issue of whether President Bashar Assad should step down and transfer power to a transitional government.
Negotiations are to reconvene on Wednesday, Lakhdar Brahimi, the chief UN mediator, told reporters, as he hopes for a “better session.”
“Nobody is walking out,” Brahimi said, “Nobody is running away.”
“We have not achieved any breakthrough, but we are still at it, and this is good enough as far as I'm concerned,” Brahimi said.
A member of the opposition negotiating team, Rima Fleihan, said that UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi had cancelled the afternoon session “because the regime is not cooperating on any subject, not on humanitarian issues and not on a transitional governing body.”
She said the government’s representatives rejected the opposition’s “vision” for Syria. “We have a vision, unfortunately the regime presented nothing and refused all discussion.”
PBB - Liga Arab utusan untuk Syria Lakhdar Brahimi (dariTengah) tiba untuk sesi taklimat akhbar di Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu pada 28 Januari 2014, di Geneva. (AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
Moscow dalam masa yang sama mahu mengelakkan “obsesi lain dengan perubahan rejim kerana permusuhan peribadi seseorang, kebencian peribadi kepada individu tertentu,” kata Lavrov di Brussels.
“Bayangkan Assad hilang. Siapakah yang akan menyimpannya bersama-sama ? Tidak ada jawapan,” kata Lavrov, sambil menambah bahawa “pakai perisytiharan prinsip kewujudan negeri Syria harus menjadi langkah seterusnya dalam dialog antara Syria.”
Pada hari Isnin, pasukan kerajaan membentangkan kertas kerja pada masa depan Syria, yang Murhaf Joueijati, ahli pembangkang pasukan rundingan Syria Koalisi Nasional, kata telah ditolak oleh parti pembangkang kerana ia “mempunyai apa-apa kaitan dengan kera-jaan peralihan,” dan sebaliknya memberi tumpuan kepada keperluan untuk memerangi keganasan dan berhenti pembiayaan dan membekalkan senjata kepada kumpulan pembe-rontak.
Gabenor wilayah Homs berkata pada Selasa bahawa pegawai-pegawai PBB cuba untuk berunding dengan pejuang pembangkang untuk membenarkan pemindahan orang awam, sebagai masalah keselamatan dan sel-sel dikaitkan al-Qaeda menghalang operasi. Pada masa yang sama, Joueijati menuduh kerajaan tidak membenarkan penghantaran bantuan kemanusiaan ke Homs, yang berada dalam kepungan selama hampir 2 tahun.
Timbalan Menteri Luar Syria, Al-Mikdad menafikan peranan kerajaan dalam melam-batkan penghantaran bantuan, mengatakan bahawa Damsyik memerlukan “jaminan bahawa bantuan ini tidak akan pergi ke kumpulan bersenjata dan pengganas di bandar2.”
Dalam pada itu, Elisabeth Byrs, seorang jurucakap Program Makanan SeDUNIA, mengesahkan bahawa kenderaan bantuan adalah bersiap sedia.
“Kita perlu bahawa semua syarat keselamatan dipenuhi untuk membenarkan konvoi antara agensi ini untuk pergi," kata Byrs.
Moscow in the meantime wants to avoid “another obsession with regime change because of somebody’s personal animosity, personal hatred to a particular individual,” Lavrov said in Brussels.
“Imagine Assad disappears. Who is going to keep it together? There is no answer,” Lavrov said, adding that the “adoption of a declaration on principles of the Syrian state's existence should be the next step in the inter-Syrian dialogue.”
On Monday, the government’s team presented a working paper on Syria’s future, which Murhaf Joueijati, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition’s negotiating team, said was rejected by the opposition because it “had nothing to do with a transitional government,” and was instead focused on the need to combat terrorism and cease funding and arming of rebel groups.
The governor of Homs province said on Tuesday that UN officials are trying to negotiate with opposition fighters to allow the evacuation of civilians, as security concerns and al-Qaeda linked cells hinder the operation. At the same time, Joueijati accused the government of not allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid to Homs, which has been under siege for almost two years.
Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Al-Mikdad denied the government’s role in delaying the delivery of aid, saying that Damascus needs “assurances that the aid will not go to armed and terrorist groups in the city.”
In the meantime, Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, confirmed that aid vehicles are on standby.
“We need that all security conditions be met to allow this interagency convoy to go,” said Byrs.
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