Syria talks deadlocked over power transfer

GENEVA. Syrian peace talks in Geneva have reached a deadlock after a session aimed at tackling contentious political issues including the possibility of a transitional government. A “declaration of principles” that the Syrian government presented at the Geneva 2 peace conference fails to address the main objective of the talks, the opposition says. “The declaration is outside the framework of Geneva, which centres on creating a transitional governing body,” the opposition’s chief negotiator, Hadi al Bahra, told the Reuters news agency on Monday. “It fails to address the core issue.” The government’s declaration of principles, submitted on Monday, declares that the Syrian Arab Republic is a democratic state based on sovereign rule of law, independence of the judiciary, protecting national unity and cultural diversity. It also says Syrians have the exclusive right to choose their political system away from any imposed framework or foreign intervention. Government sources told Al Jazeera that the opposition delegation has rejected the document, which also calls on countries to stop supplying arms, training, harboring or instigating terrorists. The Geneva 2 peace talks, mediated by UN-Arab League special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, have so far focused on humanitarian issues. It was hoped that talks would move on to the central issues that divide the government and the opposition after nearly three years of civil war: the political future of Syria and of President Bashar al-Assad. The opposition says Assad must leave power and a transitional government be formed based on an agreement reached during an initial peace conference in Geneva in 2012. The government says Assad’s role is not up for debate at this conference, and denies that the initial Geneva deal requires him to go. The regime has emphasised that the question of rule would have to be put to the Syrian people at the end of Assad’s constitutional term and cannot be enforced by external parties. ‘Let Syrians decide’ Speaking to Al Jazeera’s James Bays in Geneva, presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said that only Syrians knew what was best for Syria. “Let Syrians decide what is best for Syria,” she said. “This war is not about President Assad, it is about Syria. “They [the Geneva 2 conference participants] have tried to give themselves credibility by talking about humanitarian aid, but that has nothing to do with them. Let us stop the fighting, put a stop to terrorism and let us start a political process in Syria.” In the first tangible promise to emerge from the talks, Brahimi said on Sunday that the government had agreed to allow women and children safe passage from besieged rebel-held areas of the city of Homs. But Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi told Al Jazeera nobody should think that the humanitarian deal in Homs was the result of the Geneva talks and that it was a process planned earlier between the government and the UN and Red Crescent on the ground. Al Jazeera’s Basma Atassi, reporting from Geneva, said the government had also insisted it is Assad’s right to run for election again. “The government officials have been telling us over and over that Assad will not leave power, that he will continue his constitutional term and even has the right to run for president again,” Atassi said. “The government may suggest a ‘national unity government’, an expanded government with opposition figures headed by Assad.”