Geneva: World powers opened a crisis meeting on Syria on Saturday with the West at odds with China and Russia over how to end 16 months of bloodshed and agree on a transition plan for the strife torn country.
Before the talks started Britain pointed to persistent opposition from Beijing and Moscow to a transition deal, while the United States signalled differences, even though Russia put up an upbeat front on the meeting.
The divisions delayed by two hours the opening of the gathering of the foreign ministers of the five permanent Security Council states, the United States, Russia, Britain, China and France, as well as regional powers Qatar, Turkey, Kuwait and Iraq. Before going into the main conference, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met her French and British counterparts, while the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers held separate talks. I
nternational envoy Kofi Annan, who had convened the meeting, had circulated a proposal on a ‘‘Syrian led transition’’ that could help save his peace process that has been largely ignored by both the ruling regime and opposition since it came into force on April 12. Fighting has only intensified in recent weeks and rights monitors say violence killed 11 people across Syria on Saturday, and trapped hundreds more in Douma in Damascus province north of the capital. Despite the urgency to end the violence that has taken over 15,800 lives since March last year, world powers were paralysed by a split over how a power transition could be organised in Syria.
Moscow and Beijing were against Annan’s proposal which envisages handing over to an interim Syrian team that excludes those ‘‘whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation’’. (AFP)