Chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry for Syria, Paulo Pinheiro said that political dialogue was the only solution to end the Syrian conflict, in which all sides committed war crimes, as the bloody Syrian war that claimed the lives of more than half a million-people entered today its sixth year.
“There is only way to end this conflict, we are repeating that for the last six years, and to stop the suffering of Syrian men, women and children, and that is for the parties, to all warring parties, to come to the table and engage in genuine constructive political dialogue,” said Pinheiro.
The comments by the commission chairman Pinheiro came after Russian-led peace talks on Syria were derailed last night after rebels, which are backed by Turkey, boycotted a third round of meetings in the Kazakh city of Astana, and Moscow indicated that there were international divisions over the process. Russia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally, said the rebels’ reasons for staying away were unconvincing and their decision came as a surprise.
“(They give) one explanation, that Syrian governmental troops are breaking the ceasefire regime, that civilians are suffering and that under these conditions Syrian armed opposition cannot come here for the talks until the situation stabilizes. But I believe we should be patient and see how the situation develops,” said Alexander Lavrentyev, Head of Russian Delegation to Astana.
Describing the rebels as Turkish proxies, the Syrian government envoy said that Ankara had broken “its commitments” to the Astana process. Nevertheless, the Russian delegation chief to the Astana talks said that Moscow, Tehran and Ankara have plenty of issues to discuss regarding Syria also without the rebel delegation.
“Even the absence of the Syrian armed opposition’s delegation does not diminish the importance of the Astana process. Astana process is working and is moving forward securely. I want to assure you all that three guarantor-countries which are Russia, Iran and Turkey have enough issues to discuss and which demand balanced and substantial decisions to be made,” added Lavrentyev.