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U.S. Delegate to Attend Syria Talks in Astana
U.S. Delegate to Attend Syria Talks in Astana
Asharq Al-Awsat English 21 January 2017
http://english.aawsat.com/2017/01/article55366012/u-s-delegate-attend-syria-talks-astana
The United States officially announced that it will not send a comprehensive
delegation from Washington to attend Syrian peace talks in the Kazakh
capital. Current transition of power in the U.S has taken up top priority of
the nation’s efforts.
The State Department’s acting spokesman Mark Toner said U.S. Ambassador to
Kazakhstan, George Krol, would attend the Jan. 23 Russian-led talks as an
observer.
“We welcome and appreciate Kazakhstan’s invitation to participate as an
observer,” Toner said in a statement, “Given our presidential inauguration
and the immediate demands of the transition, a delegation from Washington
will not be attending the Astana conference.”
Toner said the U.S. was committed to a political resolution to the Syrian
crisis through a Syrian-owned process.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday he hoped the new
administration of President Donald Trump would send a Middle East expert to
the talks.
With Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, not expected to
get a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote before Monday, the new
administration asked the State Department’s No. 3 official, Tom Shannon, to
stay on.
U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura has said he intends to convene
separate peace talks in Geneva on Feb. 8. The U.N.-backed talks have been
held intermittently. Russia says the Kazakh talks would complement, rather
than compete with, the U.N. talks.
The Moscow-led effort to revive diplomacy, without the participation of the
United States, has emerged with Syrian authoritarian Bashar al-Assad buoyed
by the defeat of rebels in Aleppo, and as ties thaw between Russia and
Turkey, long one of the rebels’ main backers.
Air strikes and clashes, particularly near the Syrian capital Damascus, have
tarnished a shaky ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey since it began two
weeks ago, and the warring sides have accused each other of violations.
Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=72062
