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| Top: "Solution in The Hague, not Geneva." Above: Russia, U.S., Iran and Syrian regime rule the roost in Geneva |
The Syrian National
Council (SNC), the main component of Syria’s opposition umbrella organization
known as the Syrian National Coalition, reaffirmed yesterday it will not attend
the planned Geneva-2 peace conference.
The statement
reiterates an earlier announcement by SNC president George Sabra in October
that the group had taken a “firm decision” not to attend the talks.
Sabra had also said the
SNC would withdraw from the National Coalition if it decided to attend.
The
group has long insisted it refuses to negotiate until President Bashar
Al-Assad’s regime exits power.
Sabra’s
SNC said in a statement posted in Arabic on
its Facebook page:
The
SNC’s General Secretariat met in the city of Istanbul throughout January 3 and
4, 2014, to discuss issues of concern to the Syrian Revolution as well as the
Syria situation in general.
On
its agenda was a set of important matters awaiting fitting decisions.
The
General Secretariat heard reports about the internal situation on the ground
and its evolution in light of the surrounding circumstances.
The
international and regional situation and its fallouts on the Revolution’s
course were appraised as well.
In
addition, the General Secretariat took stock of the report by the SNC’s
Executive Office on its international activities and contacts during the
previous phase and the ensuing assessments of the contacts.
In
light of the said givens, and regarding attendance of the Geneva-2 conference,
the General Secretariat discussed the matter from all angles.
And
after weighing up the political, military and humanitarian relief situation and
hearing special and detailed reports about the regional and international political
visits and gatherings, it emerged that all the efforts exerted by the
Opposition (i.e. both the Syrian National Council and the Syrian National
Coalition) to overcome the hurdles blocking convocation of the conference
failed to yield positive results because the regime and its allies did not
fully commit to the spirit
and provisions of Geneva-1 and the regime failed to implement any of them.
On
the contrary, they added a new task to Geneva-2, which they dubbed “Fighting Terrorism”
-- with the regime persisting in its use of such war tactics as partial sieges,
starvation, random killings by barrel-bomb attacks and the occupation of Syrian
lands by sectarian militias summoned by the regime from beyond the border
without a reaction from Arab or international societies.
In
the end, the SNC’s General Secretariat did not find any realistic development
or clear and specific agenda ensuring the conference’s success in achieving the
Syrian Revolution’s objectives, which would have it revise its earlier decision.
Hence,
it decided to reiterate and reaffirm its previous decision to stay away from
the Geneva-2 conference under the present conditions…
