GENEVA // A controversial member of the powerful Jaish Al Islam rebel group said yesterday he was coming to Geneva to serve as the Syrian opposition’s lead negotiator in UN-brokered peace talks.
“I’m on the way. I will be the chief negotiator,” Mohammed Alloush said, adding that he expected to arrive in Geneva before noon today.
The main opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), appointed the radical rebel chief as its lead negotiator earlier this month.
The choice of Mr Alloush, the political leader of the Saudi-backed armed group Jaish Al Islam, or Army of Islam, has sparked an outcry.
Syria’s ally Moscow has slammed the appointment, saying it considers Jaish Al Islam as “terrorists” and other opposition groups insisted it was unacceptable for the delegation to be led by a member of an armed group.
Other members of Jaish Al Islam had reportedly arrived in Geneva with other HNC delegates late on Saturday, but it had remained unclear if Mr Alloush himself would actually join the troubled negotiations which have yet to get started in earnest.
The indirect talks on ending Syria’s nearly five-year conflict had been scheduled to start on January 25, but were postponed until the 29th, when the Syrian government delegation sat down with UN mediator Staffan de Mistura.
But the HNC has until now been debating whether to formally engage in the process, demanding that humanitarian aid first gets through to besieged towns, that the bombing of civilians ceases and that hundreds of prisoners are released.
Both delegations met separately with Mr de Mistura Monday, the UN said, sparking hope the talks might finally get moving.
An HNC spokesman said the talks had been “very positive”, notably on the humanitarian situation.
The opposition said earlier in the day it would not enter political negotiations with President Bashar Al Assad’s government until there were concrete measures in place that would alleviate the humanitarian situation on the ground.
Earlier, the HNC warned they may yet walk away from the Geneva talks unless the suffering of civilians in the five-year conflict is eased.
The head of the Syrian government delegation retorted that a series of blasts in Damascus yesterday that killed more than 50 people, , merely confirmed the link between the opposition and terrorism - even though ISIL, which claimed the attacks, has been excluded from the talks.
The United Nations is aiming for six months of negotiations, first seeking a ceasefire, later working toward a political settlement to the civil war that has also killed over 250,000 people, driven more than 10 million from their homes and drawn in global powers.
*Associated Press and Reuters
