REPORT: Syrian opposition will not attend Sochi peace talks

The Syrian opposition will not attend a Syrian peace congress that Russia is holding next week in Sochi, a chief negotiator said on Saturday adding the opposition was studying the non-formal document proposing changes to talks led by United Nations.

Speaking to journalists after the latest round of U.N.-brokered peace talks in Vienna, Nasr Hariri referred to the document drawn up by the United States, Jordan, Britain, France and Saudi Arabia saying he hadn't seen any reference to the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.    

The document, which leaked on Friday, made recommendations to the U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura for what they called a “practical approach” to what would be a “slow” political process. While not addressing Assad's fate, the proposals call for a new constitution that would dilute presidential powers in favor of a stronger parliament.

Hariri said the decision not to attend Sochi talks was made after a vote among the opposition groups that form the delegation and that he hoped the meeting would still prove useful. He said Russia had not put pressure on the delegation to attend.   

U.N. has sponsored eight rounds of fruitless peace talks in Geneva since the war began in 2011 and Syrian opposition said the Sochi conference was an attempt to undermine the United Nations' efforts to broker a peace deal and lay the groundwork for a solution more suitable to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Russia and Iran.


REUTERS