Syrian Opposition: Muallem Putting 'Nails in Coffin' of Geneva Talks

A spokesman for the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee (HNC) criticized Saturday's statement of Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on the upcoming Geneva negotiations, calling them "nails in the talks' coffin."

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Muallem said that the delegation of the Syrian government would travel to Geneva on Sunday but would not stay there for more than 24 hours if the opposition would not show up for the talks. He also ruled out the ideas of both federalization or partition of the country.

"Muallem's statements are putting the nails in the coffin of Geneva, they are stopping the negotiations before their start," Monzer Makhous said as quoted by Al Arabiya broadcaster.

Representatives of both the Syrian government and opposition are expected to sit down on Monday to continue the negotiations under the Geneva framework, which have been postponed earlier.

The first round of talks between Damascus and country's opposition began in Geneva on January 29. On February 3, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura decided to postpone the talks as the parties were unable to reach a compromise on a number of issues. The opposition and government delegations blamed each other for the breakdown of the talks.

Two opposition delegations are taking part in the intra-Syria talks. The High Negotiations Committee was created in Saudi Arabia in December and includes representatives of some groups considered to be terrorist organizations by Syria and Russia. The second delegation was created following talks in Moscow and Cairo.