General Coordinator of the High Negotiations Committee Riad Hijab said that the Geneva talks on Syria had reached a dead end because of the intransigence of the Assad regime and its continued refusal to discuss the formation of a transitional governing body as was stipulated by the Geneva Communiqué of 2012 and the UN Security Council resolution 2254.
“For us it is impossible to discuss the regime’s idea of a transitional government,” Hijab said on Wednesday ahead of talks in Berlin with German and French foreign ministers.
“There cannot be a political solution in Syria with Bashar al-Assad. International resolutions on Syria must be implemented to form a transitional governing body with full executive powers in which Bashar al-Assad and everyone with blood on their hands do not have any role to play.”
Hijab said that any renewed cease-fire agreement must include all parts in Syria, and temporary local truce agreements suggested by the Assad regime were not acceptable. He also called for establishing a clear timetable for political transition without Assad and his clique.
Following the talks with Hijab, French and German foreign ministers said achieving a ceasefire in Aleppo was critical to renewing peace talks and ending the war.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the Assad regime bore full responsibility for undermining the ceasefire in Aleppo.
Ayrault went on to call for a meeting of “like-minded” countries that support the Syrian opposition to meet in Paris next week “to get these deadly bombings to stop, for humanitarian aid to be distributed effectively and so we can resume the path to a political solution.”
Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: “I believe everyone knows and can conclude that there could be no return to the political talks in Geneva if a ceasefire, in and around Aleppo, was not observed.” (Source: Agencies)
