The Geneva talks on Syria would resume if President Bashar al-Assad agrees to discuss a transitional government and postpone the upcoming presidential elections, the White House said today.
"On the matter of the Geneva talks, they are certainly on hold. Resuming the talks and starting a third round of negotiations is dependent upon the Assad regime agreeing to discuss, among other issues, a transitional governing body with full executive powers, as cited in the Geneva communique," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters at his daily news conference.
The Assad regime, he alleged, refused to do so in the first two rounds of the talks. "That has to be the first item on the agenda," he asserted.
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"But the regime also needs to postpone its upcoming presidential elections, which represent a sham, democratically, and are entirely inconsistent with the Geneva communique's call for the establishment of a transitional governing body," the White House Press Secretary claimed.
Carney said the Assad regime alone is responsible for the talks' lack of progress thus far.
Its refusal to engage seriously in negotiations based on the Geneva communique has stalled progress, whereas the Syrian Opposition Coalition accepted the Geneva communique as the basis for negotiations and conducted itself in accordance with the communique's provisions during those talks, he said.
"So that is our view on the process. It is still very much our view that there must be a negotiated political settlement to this conflict and that that has to include a transitional governing body," he said in response to a question.
The United States, he said, deeply appreciates Joint Special Representative (Lakhdar) Brahimi's tireless efforts to work towards a lasting peace in Syria and is grateful for his leadership and his counsel.
Brahimi resigned today as the UN and Arab League mediator for Syria.
"We look forward to the appointment of his successor (by the UN)," he added.
