Syrian Invitation to Iran Prompts Rebels to Suspend Talks
By Donna Abu-Nasr and Sangwon Yoon - Jan 20, 2014
Syria’s opposition suspended its participation in this week’s peace talks in Switzerland after the United Nations invited Iran, jeopardizing the latest attempt to end a war that has killed more than 100,000 people.
The first rebel delegates were due to leave for Switzerland at 10 a.m. local time and had postponed their departure, Badr Jamous, secretary-general of the opposition coalition, said in a phone interview from Istanbul.
The Syrian National Coalition, the main political opposition group, will attend only if the invitation to Iran is withdrawn, or if Iran fully accepts an international plan adopted in 2012 that calls for a transitional government, Jamous said. Iran will attend the talks without preconditions, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said today.
Jamous said the coalition had made its opinion clear on Iran’s participation in previous talks with UN officials and “we can’t understand why we have this surprise 48 hours before the conference.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Iran, the foremost ally of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, to join 39 other countries at the meeting in Montreux, Switzerland on Jan. 22, in advance of negotiations between Syria’s opposition and government in Geneva starting Jan. 24. The three-year conflict began with peaceful protests before it evolved into a war that the UN says has forced millions to flee their homes.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-19/un-s-ban-invites-iran-to-syria-peace-talks-in-switzerland.html
