Syrian opposition meets in Kazakhstan for peace talks

Astana, May 29 (IANS/EFE) A majority of Syrian opposition negotiators meeting this week behind closed doors in this Kazakhstan' capital have signed a joint document calling for the immediate exit of all foreign mercenaries from their war-torn nation, human rights activist and a participant at the talks, Amar Abdul Hameed, said at a press conference.

"We are at a new stage in Syria. It is the stage of establishing peace. Before that there was a stage of countering the regime, now our goal is to negotiate the terms of peace," Hameed said on Thursday.

Hameed and about 30 other members of different Syrian opposition groups have been meeting in Astana for the past two days to hammer out a roadmap to peace.

The Syrian government did not send representatives to the talks in Astana.

Another participant, Syrian philosopher Sarbast Nabi, said the departure of mercenaries "should be accompanied by the recovery of the army structure to protect the civilian population".

Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov said his country sought to create favourable conditions for dialogue "without interfering in the negotiations".

"The Syrian situation is global. More than 250,000 people were killed and over 4.5 million people are refugees going to Turkey and Iran. It is an intolerable situation," Idrissov said.

"For us, the only interest is to prevent destabilisation in the region because of the Islamic State," he added.

Kazakh political scientist Dosym Satpayev, acknowledged that the absence of representatives from the Syrian government "reduces the status of the Astana talks", but like Idrissov, he stressed "the effects that the Syrian conflict could have on security in Central Asia".

"It is about activation of Islamic State cells in Afghanistan, which is a danger to Central Asia and Kazakhstan. We are also concerned about participation of Kazakhstan citizens in Syria on the side of ISIL (the former acronym of the Islamic State)," Satpayev said.

--IANS/EFE

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