ANKARA/MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) – Syria’s main western-backed opposition group that had earlier agreed to take part in an international reconciliation conference said its only aim would be to pressure President Bashar Assad to resign, Western and Arab media reported.
The conference would mark the first direct talks between the Syrian Government and the opposition since the conflict began in March 2011. Hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Joint UN-Arab League Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, the conference will take place in Switzerland in two parts, opening in Montreux on January 22, 2014, and continuing at the UN office in Geneva, on January 24. More than 30 nations have been invited to attend.
The goals and possible preconditions of Geneva-2 remain a subject of hot debate. US Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier this week that the conference should lead to the creation of a transitional government for Syria.
Syrian opposition groups remain split over Geneva-2. A number of Islamist groups have refused to attend and are threatening violence against participants.
"We are joining Geneva talks to rid Syria of this criminal [President Assad]," Al-Jazeera quoted Ahmed Jarba, head of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), as saying at a news conference in Istanbul.
"The negotiating table for us is a track toward achieving the demands of the revolution - at the top of them, removing the butcher from power," BBC quoted him as saying.
The opposition’s reluctance to participate has long remained a principal obstacle for the talks.
“We will go to Geneva 2 without compromising any principles of our revolution,” said Jarba, according to Al-Arabiya.
The coalition’s General Assembly voted by 58 votes to 14 with two abstentions and one blank vote at a meeting in Istanbul on Saturday in favor of attending the conference, announced by Russia and the United States last May.
The vote results show that only 75 of the around 120 opposition delegates took part in the secret ballot, a sign that might signal dissent in the organization.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised the coalition’s decision to participate as “a courageous and historic step in the interest of a negotiated political solution to a three-year conflict that has caused so much misery and destruction,” according to a statement dismissed by his spokesman.
He encouraged the SNC to form its delegation as soon as possible.
A coalition spokesman told the media conference in Istanbul that representatives from armed opposition groups, fighting with pro-government forces in Syria, would be included in the delegation.
“It is yet unclear what their role would be, but they will take part in the consultations and decision-making,” spokesman Louay Safi said.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the decision “was reached through the determination and courage” of SNC members.
“The decision to send a Coalition delegation to Montreux will now enable the start of the process that should yield peace and launch a genuine political transition in Syria in line with the aspirations of the Syrian people to live in dignity, freedom and democracy,” her spokesperson said in a statement.
US Secretary of State John Kerry also welcomed the decision, calling it a "courageous” move made “in the interests of all the Syrian people who have suffered so horribly under the brutality of the Assad regime and a civil war without end.”
According to international organizations, nearly 130,000 people have died and over 2.4 million left the country since the start of the conflict.
