Syria under pressure ahead of peace talks

Western powers have condemned efforts by the Syrian government to set limits to the agenda of fresh peace talks. On Saturday, two days before the scheduled start of the Geneva talks, Syria’s foreign minister ruled out any discussion of presidential elections. US Secretary of State John Kerry responded by accusing Damascus of “trying to disrupt […]

Western powers have condemned efforts by the Syrian government to set limits to the agenda of fresh peace talks.
On Saturday, two days before the scheduled start of the Geneva talks, Syria’s foreign minister ruled out any discussion of presidential elections. US Secretary of State John Kerry responded by accusing Damascus of “trying to disrupt the process”.
He was speaking after meeting European foreign ministers in Paris. France accused Syria of “provocation”.
On Saturday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said that any talk of a new presidential election was exclusive right of the Syrian people.
The main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said the pre-conditions could halt the talks before they had even started.
On Sunday Mr Kerry met his counterparts from France, the UK, Germany, Italy and the European Union in Paris.
Afterwards he said Mr Muallem was “clearly trying to disrupt the process”, adding that Syria’s allies, Russia and Iran, had made clear “there must be a political transition and that we must have a presidential election at some time”.