Several Syrian opposition groups hold a two-day conference starting Monday in Cairo to discuss the transition of power in Syria in light of the new United Nations plan proposed on Saturday in Geneva.
Roughly 250 opposition figures, including members of the Syrian National Council (SNC) and the Local Coordination Committees were in attendance, many of whom absolutely rejected the US and UK-backed Geneva Plan that Kofi Annan prepared.
The meeting was however boycotted by the Syria-based rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army and several activists who denounced it as a "conspiracy" that served the policy goals of Damascus allies Moscow and Tehran.
"We refuse all kinds of dialogue and negotiation with the killer gangs...and we will not allow anyone to impose on Syria and its people the Russian and Iranian agendas," said a statement signed by the rebel Free Syrian Army and independent activists of the Syrian Revolution General Commission, as reported by AFP.
Experts and Western officials tell Ahram Online they believe that the US and Anan’s optimism over the plan lays on a small, but significant shift in Russia’s position. It is reported that Russia, Bashar Al-Assad’s strongest ally, has finally agreed on principle - and behind closed doors - that Assad should leave at some point to make way for the transition period and end the crisis.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi, who chaired the two-day summit urged the factions “not to waste this opportunity” and to unite.
Arabi also stressed the need for “a pluralist democratic system that does not discriminate between Syrians.”
Nasser Al-Qudwa, deputy to UN-Arab League peace envoy, Kofi Annan, echoed Arabi's call, telling the opposition to “unify your vision and your performance.”
“This is not a choice, but a necessity if the opposition wants to gain the trust of its people in Syria,” Qudwa urged the attendees, which included the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iraq and Kuwait.
The UN plan calls for establishing a transitional government of national unity, with full executive powers. It leaves the possibility open of including members of Assad's government, as well as opposition figures and others. The transitional government would oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.
A sticking point, however, is that the text of the plan does not clearly bar President Assad from taking part in the power transition.
The Geneva Plan is born
An emergency conference was held and the UN plan was announced on Saturday. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the UN Security Council's five permanent members: Russia, the US, China, France and Britain, along with Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League Secretary General and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Notably absent from the guest list were Iran, one of Syria's closest regional ally, and Saudi Arabia, a foe of both Damascus and Tehran. Nor was anyone from the Syrian government or opposition represented.
Following the Geneva conference, Moscow denied that the interpretation of the text of the plan implies that Assad must step down “now” as a condition to form the transition government.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asserted that the plan did not imply at all that Assad should step down, as there were no preconditions excluding any group from the proposed national unity government.
However, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton responded to the Lavrov statement saying that the plan sent a clear message to Assad that he must quit in order to start a peaceful transition.
“It is now incumbent on Russia and China to show Assad the writing on the wall,” she said.
“Assad will still have to go,” Clinton added. “What we have done here is to strip away the fiction that he and those with blood on their hands can stay in power.”
An American diplomat in Washington told Ahram Online that Russia and China accepted the plan, but they would not push Assad to accept it right now and claim that the US and its allies understand this very well.
The source added that the US has been working its allies since the withdrawal of the UN-observer mission from Syria to find a common ground with Russia on the transition in Syria and that the Geneva conference is a good step.
The Syrian opposition rejected the plan, arguing that the plan still gives legitimacy to the Assad regime, which is killing many people every day.
The former head of the umbrella group, the SNC, Burhan Ghalioun, described the plan as a “mockery.” He objects to the notion that Syrians should negotiate with “their executioner, who has not stopped killing, torturing... and raping women for 16 months,” according to a post on the opposition coalition's official Facebook page.
“This plan for a transition government does not add much to the previous plans. But it is an indication that Russia’s patience with Assad will not be unlimited” said Joshua Landis, director of the Centre for Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma.
According to Landis, the US used this plan to buy time for the opposition to unite and be able to lead the transition. Washington also wanted to put the ball in Russia’s court to deliver a transition government.
Both Russia and the US will hold talks, separately, with the Syrian opposition in next week on the new peace plan.
More than 16,500 people have been killed in violence since the uprising against Assad's rule broke out in March last year, according to Syrian rights groups.
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