He recalled that two years ago, "the appearance of his group was an important turning point in resolving the Syrian crisis, because at the time, the Cairo group made it clear that the standoff can only be solved by political means."
"But now our group is facing conflicts and a political rift which began after the announcement of the Cairo group being included in the Riyadh group.Then there were statements by the Kurds and our other colleagues who represent their self-governing regions, Al-Mushrif said.
He also recalled that Ahmad Jarba, leader of the moderate opposition group Syria's Tomorrow Movement, did not attend the fourth round of the Geneva talks on Syria.
"Now there are no its outstanding founders in our group," al-Mushrif pointed out.
United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is focusing precisely on this fact, trying to negate the Cairo group's role and elevate that of the Riyadh opposition group.
With talks for #Syria underway in Geneva, check out report on how new UN mechanism intends to make justice possible https://t.co/R0bcFE9QwQ pic.twitter.com/Tr6xDzqEmw
— coalitionfortheicc (@ngos4justice) 25 февраля 2017 г.
Despite a number of differences, the Riyadh group's members are united in their push for splitting up Syria and taking the lion's share during the process, according to Al-Mushrif.
"All this has led to a situation where the group, which advocates a political solution to the Syrian conflict, is currently in intensive care, and it can only hope for God's grace," he concluded.
Earlier, Political Advisor to the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Bassam Barabandi told Sputnik that the three Syrian opposition groups participating in the Geneva talks have common ground. However, they are failing to unite into one delegation due to the specifics of the 'mechanism.'
New round of Syria talks kick off in Geneva on back of Astana progress https://t.co/aczdFnquA4 #RT pic.twitter.com/ystFXN8QGc
— Antihéroe (@4ntiheroe) 23 февраля 2017 г.
The Syrian opposition is represented by several separate delegations, including the HNC, the Moscow platform, and the Cairo platform.
"In order to have a ceasefire you need two credible groups to sit to say today we have a ceasefire. The people in Moscow, the people in Cairo, they don't have that influence on the ground and they see things completely differently," Barabandi said.
The statement came amid reports that Cairo and HNC have failed to come to an agreement on merging.
The fourth round of the UN-backed intra-Syrian talks between the government and the opposition factions began last Thursday. The discussions are expected to center on governance, constitutional issues and elections in Syria.
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