Talks struggle to get off ground

The UN special envoy for Syria faced an uphill task in Geneva yesterday to get talks to end the brutal civil war off the ground, as the opposition hesitated to join negotiations with the regime.

The urgency to find a solution to the four-year war was brought home Sunday when multiple explosions killed 71 people near a revered Shia shrine outside the capital Damascus, according to a Britain-based monitor.

Present in Geneva are the main opposition umbrella group the High Negotiation Committee (HNC) and representatives of President Bashar al-Assad.

Talks between the UN special envoy for Syria and government representatives tentatively planned for yesterday 11:00 am in Geneva have been "rescheduled" to allow talks with the opposition first, the UN said. Khawla Mattar, spokeswoman for special envoy Staffan de Mistura, told AFP there was "the need to meet" with opposition first, and that a meeting with the government would happen "maybe another day".

Discussions with the opposition umbrella group the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) were still expected to take place at the UN's European headquarters at 5:00 pm, the UN said. The HNC, which only reluctantly showed up late Saturday and held informal talks with de Mistura on Sunday in a Geneva hotel, is hesitating about entering formal indirect talks envisioned under a November roadmap agreed by outside powers.

It is demanding first that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime allows humanitarian access to besieged towns, stops bombarding civilians and releases prisoners.

The UN human rights chief said yesterday those committing crimes against humanity in Syria's brutal war should not be let off under any deal, as peace talks struggled in Geneva.

"We do have a principled position in the United Nations that no amnesties should be considered for those suspected of having committed crimes against humanity or war crimes," UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein told reporters in Geneva.

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged on Sunday both sides "to make the most of this moment" in an online statement broadcast from Washington.

Kerry urged the opposition to drop their preconditions, but also had hard words for their foes, accusing Assad's forces of deliberately starving besieged towns.