Brahimi Says Lebanon's Leaders 'in Favor of Being Invited' to Syria Peace Talks
U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Friday that Lebanese top officials were “in favor of being invited” to a peace conference on Syria in Geneva later this month.
Following separate talks with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Brahimi said: “The three leaders are in favor of being invited to it.”
Brahimi said he briefed them about the preparations for the so-called Geneva 2 conference hours after arriving in Beirut from Damascus where he called on Syrian authorities and the opposition to attend the peace talks.
Syria's crisis is endangering the region, he told reporters at the Grand Serail.
Brahimi first met with Suleiman at Baabda Palace. He later headed to Ain el-Tineh for talks with Berri.
He told reporters there that Lebanon has suffered from the burden caused by the crisis in Syria.
Brahimi then met with Miqati before his scheduled talks with caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, who stressed after meeting the envoy that there can only be a political solution to the crisis in Syria.
The envoy ended his days-long visit to Damascus on Friday, calling on both the government and the opposition to attend the peace conference in Geneva but acknowledging the gathering cannot take place if the opposition refuses to take part.
Brahimi, who had traveled to Damascus at the end of a Mideast tour to muster regional support for the conference, appeared uncertain about prospects for the meeting.
The envoy, who met this week with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Damascus-based opposition groups, said the Syrian government has confirmed it would attend.
Deeply fractured Syrian opposition groups are split on whether to attend the Geneva talks. They also disagree over conditions for taking part — from demands that Assad step down right away to guarantees that he would not be part of a negotiated solution for the country's future.
This time, Brahimi appeared to put the onus on the opposition, saying talks in Geneva cannot "go forward without the opposition."
"The participation of the opposition is essential, necessary and important," he said.
Source: Associated Press, Naharnet
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