Syrian opposition not told of new UN peace talk plan


The Syrian opposition council has yet to be officially informed of U.N. plans to hold a new round of peace talks on March 9. The council stipulates that no serious discussions can begin before detainees are freed and blockades are lifted, an opposition official said on Tuesday.Riad Nassan Agha, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said the opposition would study the call for talks based on developments on the ground, adding that the opposition had only heard of the March 9 date from the media.He said he did not see "good implementation" of humanitarian clauses in a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolution the opposition has demanded be carried out for Syria peace talks to begin. He added that the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, appeared to be "in a hurry.""Something must be realized on the ground regarding the implementation of the Security Council resolution for negotiations to begin seriously," Agha told Reuters by telephone. "And so far it does not seem that there are indications of this good implementation."He also described the cessation of hostilities as "fragile and weak," adding that there were many violations by government forces. "Therefore I do not know what new developments may happen between now and March 9."In the Geneva talks in January, the HNC was at the table and sent 17 negotiators and 25 others to the U.N.-mediated negotiations, although it first announced that it would boycott the talks since an agreement was not reached over ending airstrikes and bringing aid to besieged towns.The HNC delegation met at a Geneva hotel with de Mistura in the talks for the first time, demanding Bashar Assad's government in Syria be made to comply with the U.N. resolution on humanitarian aid and human rights. The UNSC resolution was approved in December endorsing the peace process for Syria.During the talks, Mohammed Alloush, a leading member of the Army of Islam rebel group and nominally the HNC's chief negotiator, clutching a photo of a young boy that he claimed was injured in Russian airstrikes, said: "The problem is with the criminal regime that decimates children and with Russia, which always tries to stand alongside criminals."