The opposition’s High Negotiations Committee announced that it was boycotting all conferences and meetings if they are held outside the UN umbrella, accusing Moscow of seeking to “rehabilitate” the regime of Bashar Assad. The HNC called for the United Nations to regain command of the peace process in Syria.
“Russia is undermining the United Nations as it is imposing its own rules on Syria,” said the HNC a statement on Thursday. Around half a million people were killed in Syria in the seven-years-old war being launched by the Assad regime against the Syrian people.
The conference Moscow intends to organize on May 18 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi represents “departure from the United Nations-sponsored mediation efforts,” the statement added.
The HNC renewed its rejection of discussing the future of Syria outside the legal international framework, reaffirming its commitment to a political solution in accordance with the Geneva Communiqué of 2012 and international resolutions.
The Committee pointed out that the Sochi conference is part of Russia’s efforts to monopolize efforts to political solution, adding that the Russian move risks undermining efforts of the international community to reach a political solution that guarantees the Syrian people’s rights to freedom and dignity.
The HNC and many opposition forces demanded that any conference remain within the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 which called for local political transition in Syria. It stressed that the tragedy of the Syrian people cannot be solved by forming an expanded government under the authority of the Assad regime. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
