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                  UN Chief: Progress Slow on Syria Peace Talks

   by VOA News

   United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged progress has
   been slow in arranging international peace talks aimed at ending
   Syria's civil war.
   Ban said Wednesday key elements of the U.N.-sponsored talks are still
   undecided, including whether the Syrian opposition will attend and who
   would represent it.
   "We have yet to find out, agree, mutually agreeable and convenient date
   for a meeting, and also we have yet to see how the opposition groups
   are discussing their unity issues," he sid. "We expect that opposition
   group will come in a coherent and unified manner as a single
   representations."
   Earlier, Syrian opposition leaders repeated a demand for President
   Bashar al-Assad to leave power, saying they will not agree to the talks
   without a timetable for his withdrawal.
   The Assad government has agreed, in principle, to attend. But on
   Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem insisted Assad
   would remain president until at least the 2014 elections, and that he
   may run for another term.
   The United States and Russia agreed earlier this month to organize the
   talks, which would bring rebel and government forces together for the
   first time since the conflict began 26 months ago.
   But analysts say it may not be possible to hold the Geneva conference
   in early June, as planned, if both sides continue to show little
   willingness to give ground.
   Bob Bowker, a Middle East specialist and professor at the Australian
   National University, said neither side is likely to look for a
   political settlement as long as it believes it can win the conflict.
   "And at this moment, the regime certainly believes it will ultimately
   prevail. The rebels are a long way from acknowledging that they are not
   going to win," he said. "Each of the contending parties has sufficient
   external support to keep on going for quite a long time."
   Another issue challenging the talks, said Bowker, is the Syrian
   opposition's failure to find any form of political coherence so that it
   can be a credible party to the negotiations.
   The Syrian National Coalition, the country's main opposition bloc,
   meets in Istanbul on Thursday for a final day of talks that have been
   characterized by sharp disagreements about its leadership and
   direction.
   A day earlier, the coalition laid out a series of preconditions for
   entering the international peace conference. A coalition statement said
   the group wants "binding international guarantees" that Assad will not
   be part of any transitional government.
   The U.N. says the 26-month civil war, which began as a largely peaceful
   protest against Assad's government, has killed at least 80,000 people.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/un-chief-progess-slow-on-syria-peace-
   talks/1671183.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/un-chief-progess-slow-on-syria-peace-talks/1671183.html