GENEVA — With no progress to report at the end of the second round of Syrian peace talks, U.N. Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Saturday adjourned the talks and set no date for the next round, calling instead for U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“I think it is better that every side goes back and reflects on their responsibility: Do they want this process to take place or not?” Brahimi told reporters.

Brahimi blamed the impasse on the two sides’ disagreement over how to deal with the four points on an agenda that Brahimi said both the Syrian government and the opposition have agreed to: violence and terrorism, the appointment of a transitional governing body, what to do with current national institutions, such as the police and the army, and how to bring about national reconciliation and debate.

But the government has not agreed to the way Brahimi would like the topics to be discussed, alternating days, with the first devoted to violence and terrorism – the government’s preferred topic – and the second devoted to the transitional governing body, the subject that most interests the opposition.

Brahimi said it was “extremely clear that one day will not be enough to finish the discussion on violence and terrorism, and one day will not be enough on discussing the TGB,” but that the Syrian government wants the discussion of violence and terrorism to reach a conclusion before the transitional governing body discussion starts.

That “raises the suspicion of the opposition that in fact the government doesn’t’ want to discuss the TGB at all,” Brahimi said.

Advertisement

Whether high-level talks among Ban, Kerry and Lavrov will help bridge the differences was unclear.

Brahimi met only Thursday with two senior diplomats from the United States and Russia. His call so soon after that meeting for a session between his boss and still-higher-level Russian and American officials was seen by diplomats in Generva as signaling concern from Brahimi that statements from the two countries in recent days have been unhelpful.

Brahimi, according to this line of thinking, wants to hear from Kerry and Lavrov – who initiated the peace talks – that their countries still support his mediation efforts and are willing to make sure that their allies in the Syrian conflict participate.

Brahimi expressed regret at the lack of progress.

“I am very, very sorry, and I apologize to the Syrian people that their hopes which were very, very high that something will happen here … I apologize to them that on these two rounds we haven’t helped them very much,” he said.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.