Syria to decide soon on peace talk participation: minister

By Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government will decide soon whether to take part in peace talks with the opposition, a senior Syrian diplomat said after talks in Moscow.

Asked whether Damascus had committed to joint Russian-U.S. efforts to hold a peace conference, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said: "We are still discussing these questions."

"A final decision will be taken after our return to Damascus," Mekdad told Russian news agency Itar-TASS following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He did not give any details on a possible date for a conference.

Lavrov welcomed the Syrian government's response but said the Syrian opposition had not yet shown enough commitment to efforts to arrange talks for a resolution to the more than two-year-old conflict.

He said Assad's foes were too divided to agree on participation and called on countries with "real influence over the irreconcilable opposition" to help bring them to the talks.

"We value the constructive reaction of the Syrian leadership to this proposal," Lavrov said at talks with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Moscow.

"We also hope that a constructive reaction from various opposition groups ... will follow. So far, however, the news is not hopeful."

Lavrov also repeated Moscow's belief that some of Assad's foes were using violence in order to hamper peace efforts, referring to the recent abduction of Mekdad's father.

"We are seeing attempts by various forces, at any time when a ray of hope appears, to take actions to undermine movement forward," Lavrov said.

After months of diplomatic stalemate, Washington and Moscow have been pushed to convene the conference by the rising death toll and atrocities, signs of escalation across Syria's frontiers and suspicions that chemical arms may have been used.

But world powers remain at loggerheads on how best to end the fighting that has killed at least 80,000 people and whether Assad's exit must be a precondition to talks.

Moscow, a longtime Syrian ally, says Western and Gulf states are encouraging rebels seeking the overthrow of Assad while the United States and Europe accuse the Kremlin of shielding the Syrian president during 20 months of bloodshed.

Mekdad said the "coming together" of Russia and the United States could help resolve the conflict, but he accused rebels of undermining peace efforts.

He said Syria's leadership would "strive for a peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis. Unfortunately, such an approach is not finding an appropriate answer."

No date has been set for a international peace conference, which appears to face growing obstacles. Russia and Western powers have also clashed over Moscow's desire that Assad's region ally Iran be invited to talks.

(Reporting by Steve Gutterman; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-decide-soon-peace-talk-participation-minister-175058477.html

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