Geneva II in Deadlock

The dialogue at the Geneva II conference between the representatives of the government as well as the opposition supported by the West has come to an impasse over the issue of power transfer. The meeting ended in a deadlock as the opposition did not entertain the so called ‘declaration of principles for negotiations’ offered by the representative of the Syrian government. The opposition instead wanted to push its own declaration, which the government representative found “imposed.” The delegation also made it very clear that whether or not Assad remains in power in Damascus will depend on the opinion of the Syrian people. “The government delegation presented a statement on essential principles to save Syria...[and] its people from extremist terrorism,” a delegate later said.