ASTANA: Syrian rebels are due to meet their war-torn country’s government on Monday in the Kazakh capital Astana, in the latest push to end the conflict.
Scheduled to begin at 0800 GMT, the planned face-to-face talks would be the first time armed rebel groups have negotiated directly with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime since the conflict erupted in 2011.
The talks have been welcomed by all parties in the war, but the two sides have arrived in Kazakhstan with apparently divergent ideas on the aim of the discussions, and officials have cast doubt on whether they will in fact sit down at the same table.
Opposition spokesman Yehya al-Aridi told AFP on Sunday there was “no final answer” on whether his team would sit down opposite the regime.
Two hours ahead of the talks, Kazakh deputy foreign minister Roman Vasilenko told reporters the format was still under discussion.
Rebel groups have said the meeting will focus on bolstering a frail nationwide ceasefire brokered last month by opposition ally Turkey and regime backer Russia.
But Assad has insisted that rebels lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty deal, and called for a “comprehensive” political solution to a conflict that has killed more than 310,000 and displaced more than half of Syria’s population.
Organised by Turkey, Russia and Iran, the talks come a month after the regime recaptured rebel areas of Aleppo, scoring its biggest victory since the war began.
Chief opposition negotiator Mohammad Alloush arrived in Astana on Sunday accompanied by around a dozen rebel figures including Fares Buyush of the Idlib Army, an AFP correspondent said.
“This is not a replacement for the Geneva process,” Buyush told AFP, referring to the UN-hosted political negotiations set to resume in the Swiss city next month.
Delegation spokesman Osama Abu Zeid said the rebels were concerned with “more than just a ceasefire”.
“The issue is putting monitoring, investigation, and accountability mechanisms in place,” he told AFP. “We want these mechanisms so that this doesn’t play out over and over.”
Previous efforts at securing a long-term ceasefire in Syria have faltered, with both sides trading accusations over violations.
