Syrian rebels weigh joining talks

The divided Syrian opposition was scheduled to meet on Friday in Istanbul to decide whether to join next week's landmark peace talks, as its Arab and Western allies ratchet up the pressure for it to attend.

On the eve of the National Coalition's meeting, US Secretary of State John Kerry made a plea to the exiled group to decide in favor of the talks to be held in Switzerland on Jan 22.

"The United States ... urges a positive vote," Kerry said in a surprise statement to reporters.

"The Syrian people need to be able to determine the future of their country, their voice must be heard," he said.

The peace conference dubbed Geneva II is aimed at finding a way to install a transitional government to help chart an end to the war, in which 130,000 people have died since March 2011.

But parts of the Syrian opposition are wary of being drawn into a process they fear could result in President Bashar al-Assad clinging to power.

In November, it had demanded Assad's departure as a condition to joining talks.

A key bloc in the Coalition, the Syrian National Council, has also threatened to pull out if the General Assembly votes in favor of attending.

Equally set in their stance, the Syrian government warned on Monday against preconditions for the talks to be held at the Swiss lakeside city of Montreux.

"Any person who seeks preconditions or mistakes their dreams for reality is leading to the failure of the Geneva conference before it even starts," Syrian state media quoted a foreign ministry source as saying.

Possible cease-fire

Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Friday he had handed Russia plans for a cease-fire in Syria's biggest city, Aleppo, and was ready to exchange lists with rebel forces on a possible prisoner swap.

Washington and Moscow have been trying to negotiate some confidence-building measures and allow humanitarian aid to flow in the nearly three-year-old civil war.

"I count on the success of this plan if all sides carry out their obligations," Moualem told a joint news conference in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"We would like this to serve as an example to other towns," Moualem said of the plan for Aleppo.

Syrian rebels backed by Washington have agreed that if the government commits to a partial cease-fire, they would abide by it, Washington has said.

AFP-Reuters

(China Daily 01/18/2014 page8)