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United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan is looking to overcome Russia's misgivings over a plan to end the bloodshed in Syria and to resolve the fate of President Bashar al-Assad.
The foreign ministers of the five permanent UN Security Council members -- China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. -- as well as Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq are set to attend a conference in Geneva today to discuss Annan's plan. The meeting's success may hinge on whether Russia breaks with Assad after shielding him with Security Council vetoes.
Persuading Assad to step aside and not be part of a transitional government paving the way for elections is at the core of Annan's plan that seeks to end 16 months of violence that has left more than 10,000 people dead. About 4,000 Syrians have been killed since Annan took on the peacemaking mission in February, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an activist group.
Annan, who also represents the Arab League, yesterday said he's optimistic that the meeting will yield an "acceptable result" on how to proceed with a handover of power.
Russian Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov, after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday in St. Petersburg, said he wants changes in Annan's plan.
They agreed on "most of" the plan, Lavrov said, while telling reporters afterwards that he is seeking unspecified changes. Lavrov said Russia and the U.S. agree that Annan's proposals "aren't untouchable," and he predicted a compromise.
"We'll find a way out in Geneva, Lavrov said.
U.S.-Russia Gap
Clinton and Lavrov failed to resolve their differences during nearly an hour of one-on-one talks, said a State Department official who asked for anonymity because the discussions are private. They covered the situation in detail and Clinton pointed to the dangers of Syria leading to a wider conflict in the region, the official said.
Still, the two ministers agreed to go to Geneva out of respect for Annan, knowing there may or may not be an agreement there, the official said.
Annan's three-page paper sets out as ''key steps in any transition" the creation of a unity government that he defined in terms that would leave out Assad and some members of his inner circle.
The plan says the new government "could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation."
The U.S. refuses to endorse any plan that enables Assad to remain in power at the top of a transitional government.
Fighting 'Terrorists'
The Syrian leader yesterday said his government rejects any external solutions to the conflict. Assad said it's the government's responsibility to wipe out the "terrorists," as Syrian authorities refer to rebels. He has said that any future government in Syria must hold free and fair elections for a multiparty government.
Tensions have also risen with neighboring Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, after Syria shot down a Turkish warplane that it said violated its territory and Turkey said was in international airspace, on June 22.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week that Turkey had changed its military rules of engagement after the incident and that any military element approaching the Turkish border from Syria could be viewed as a threat and treated as a military target.
Iran's Exclusion
Iran, Syria's neighbor and ally, was excluded from the Geneva talks at the insistence of the U.S., which said the Tehran regime has provided Assad's forces with weapons, training and other support. Russia, which sought to have Iran included, then opposed inviting Saudi Arabia, which it said is helping arm the Syrian opposition.
Iran's exclusion is a mistake, Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Mohammad Khazaee said yesterday in New York. He criticized Western nations "and particularly the United States" for failing to consider "the power and influence of Iran." Iran could be "a heavyweight champion in bringing peace to the region," he said
To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer M. Freedman in Geneva at jfreedman@bloomberg.net; Scott Rose in Geneva at rrose10@bloomberg.net; Indira A.R. Lakshmanan in St. Petersburg at ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net; John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net
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