The Syrian peace talks got off to a shaky start Wednesday, with angry words from the Syrian foreign minister. In an opening speech that lasted more than half an hour, the Minister, Walid Al Moualam, attacked Syrian rebel groups for lacking ideas.
He also clashed with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who urged Al Moualam to conclude his speech. Richard Bestic reports from the talks in Montreux, Switzerland.
On the streets outside the peace conference, supporters of the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad brought a sense of the yawning gulf that exists between government and opposition.
Around the negotiating table, the formal order of business was to agree a transitional government that would remove Assad from office. That’s a red line for the Syrian government and it wasn’t long before there were angry words.
For its part, the National Syrian Coalition, called on the government side to immediately sign up to a transitional government.
"Any talk of Assad staying in power would be a derailment of Geneva 1. So we are not in any position to discuss anything before this issue has been decided," said Ahmad Jarba, head of The Syrian National Coalition.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had described the talks as an opportunity. But also said, the Syrian President must go.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Moscow’s opposition to what he called outside states meddling in Syria.
The Chinese Foreign Minister announced China’s providing additional humanitarian aid and urged the international community to avoid imposing a political solution on Syria.
"The international community should provide constructive assistance to Syria so the two sides can find a middle way and exert the U.N.’s role as the main channel of mediation, including providing suggestions on how to promote better reconciliation," Wang said.
Regardless of the low expectations these talks are a breakthrough. For the first time in three years of bitter conflict, the two sides are around a table talking. There is a view that in itself is an achievement.
