28/02/2014 17:34
Peace talks still an option, Syrian opposition says
The Syrian opposition’s interim prime minister said Thursday that it was still possible to negotiate an end to his country’s bloody conflict despite the failure of U.N.-led peace talks, The Daily Star reported.
Ahmad Tomeh was responding to reporters’ questions in Berlin about his hopes for peace after the acrimonious breakdown of the Geneva II talks earlier this month.
“I nevertheless still believe in a negotiated solution and hope that the international community will exercise more pressure in future on the Syrian regime,” he told reporters.
Tomeh and several other members of the Syrian opposition’s provisional government met German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin Wednesday.
The opposition figure said Germany could contribute toward a solution of the nearly three-year conflict, in which more than 140,000 people have been killed.
Tomeh also confirmed the arrest and detention of relatives of opposition delegates who attended the Geneva talks, after the U.S. accused the Syrian government Wednesday of strong-arm tactics to intimidate opposition negotiators.
“Anyone in Syria who has anything to do with the opposition, even from afar, is in danger of being arrested, and not only that,” Tomeh said.