By Cecile Mantovani
LAUSANNE: A Syrian opposition group has called on the United Nations to rethink its decision about who to invite for peace talks in Geneva and has sent U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura a counter-proposal.
Haytham Manna, co-leader of the Syrian Democratic Council, had already said he would not take part in the peace talks unless two Kurdish leaders, Saleh Muslim and Ilham Ahmed, were also invited to participate.
“We received part of our invitations and we are waiting for the other part. It must be, in principle, today,” he told reporters in Lausanne, where members of his group were meeting, originally in anticipation of joining the talks on Friday.
Russia, Syria’s biggest ally and the main co-sponsor of the peace talks along with the United States, wants Manna and his colleagues at the table. It says the main opposition delegation drawn up in Riyadh is too narrow and includes too many Islamists, including some Moscow regards as terrorists.
Turkey, another key sponsor of the peace talks and the biggest host of Syrian refugees, regards the Kurdish leaders as representatives of a terrorist movement and wants them excluded.
De Mistura compromised by inviting Manna and several others in a personal capacity, while leaving out the two Kurdish leaders.
Manna said his group had drawn up a “democratic secular” list of 15 essential names and 15 alternate members and sent it to De Mistura, Russia and the United States.
A spokeswoman for De Mistura said his office had received the list but declined to say who was on it or whether the U.N. would send out any more invitations.
REUTERS
