Assad Foes Resume Unity Talks under Cloud
Syria's opposition resumed unity talks in the Qatari capital on Saturday under a cloud of reservations by the Syrian National Council main bloc over a proposed plan for a broad-based government-in-waiting.
The SNC said it would put forth its own proposals at the repeatedly delayed talks and suggested any final agreement would need more time, despite mounting frustration with its stance among other dissident factions.
"We have started an open dialogue with our brothers and looked at their initiative," newly-elected SNC leader George Sabra told a news conference before the talks with other factions resumed.
"But we have our own point of view and our own ideas that we plan to put forward," he said.
The group, once regarded as the leading representative of the opposition but increasingly derided in Washington as dominated by out-of-touch exiles, had already twice requested postponement of the talks on plans for a government-in-waiting.
"The SNC is older than... any other initiative" on the table, said Sabra, adding that no opposition group should be forced under the banner of another.
SNC senior official Ahmed Ramadan told Agence France Presse it would be "difficult to reach agreement" in Saturday's talks and that the meeting would more likely result in an announcement of "principles of cooperation so as not to end in failure".
The SNC would hold on to its "leading role in the Syrian opposition" and "reject any attempt or initiative to cancel it."
The opposition bloc has been vying to keep its leading role in the face of U.S.- and Arab-backed proposals to form a new broad-based body opposed to President Bashar Assad that could win deeper support.
The proposals, inspired by leading dissident Riad Seif who is reportedly seen by Washington as a potential new opposition leader, envisage the formation of a transitional government, a military council to oversee rebel groups on the ground and a judiciary to operate in rebel-held areas.
The 10-member transitional government would be elected by a new 60-member umbrella group drawn from civilian activists and rebel fighters inside Syria as well as the exiles who have dominated the SNC.
The SNC's repeated postponement of its response to the proposed unity plan has drawn strong criticism from other opposition groups taking part in the unity talks sponsored by Qatar and the Arab League.
"The SNC's requests for delays are a bad thing -- they want to take over everything and the only thing that matters to them is who forms the leadership while our number one concern ought to be the bloodshed," dissident Haytham Maleh said.
Other factions went ahead with a planned meeting without the SNC on Friday evening in frustration at a second request for a postponement.
Source: Agence France Presse
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