Syria talks: Humanitarian issues top Geneva agenda

Syria's opposition and government have met twice in what the UN's Lakhdar Brahimi hailed a 'good beginning' to peace talks.

Mr Brahimi, who is mediating, admitted the sides 'haven't achieved much' but said he was trying to build confidence by broaching humanitarian issues first.

He said the getting an aid convoy into Homs had been discussed, and imprisoned people would be discussed on Sunday.

Delegates in Geneva are aiming at small concessions, not a full peace deal.

'Ending terrorism and violence' is the top priority, Syrian officials say. They insist it is too early to discuss President Bashar al-Assad's position.

Analysis

In the heart of the grand Palace of Nations, the two delegations filed in the same room and sat down at the same U-shaped table, but said nothing to each other.

The stiff formality of such a meeting is designed to avoid anything going wrong. One opposition delegate said he expected the arrangement to continue for the next few days or maybe much longer.

Slow, cumbersome diplomacy, but, as one diplomat here put it, 'small steps are better than no steps'.

Sources say the plan is to discuss getting an aid convoy into areas in and around the old city of Homs besieged by government forces. It is something the UN has been working on behind the scenes already - one opposition participant said rebel brigades in the area had already been asked to agree to respect to a ceasefire.

As for the central tricky political questions surrounding a transitional government and what this might mean for President Assad, it is interesting that multiple sources, including the Damascus delegation, are saying they might start discussions on Monday. It's a subject upon which the two sides vehemently disagree - a point at which tempers may fray and these peace talks may look vulnerable again.

But both sides say they are planning to be in Geneva until the end of next week before pausing for a break. That must be a positive sign.

In the first meeting, the two delegations filed in through separate doors into one room in the UN Geneva Headquarters, and sat down at the same U-shaped table, but said nothing to each other.

Mr Brahimi said another two-hour meeting had taken place in the afternoon.

He admitted no direct words had been exchanged but said the two sides were 'talking through me to one another - this is what happens in civilised discussions,' he said, where sides addressed each other via the chairperson.

On reports the Syrian regime were only concerned to discuss 'terrorism' in Syria, he insisted 'both sides have agreed we are here to discuss the implementation of the 30 June communique' - the blueprint for peace talks set out at a meeting in Geneva in 2012.

He said he was 'praying for some good news' in meetings on Sunday.

'Dictators don't like to listen'

There is hope that minor progress will pave the way for the discussion of wider issues like political transition next week, although there has been no sign of common ground on this so far.

Shortly after the initial meeting, the chief of staff to the leader of Syria's National Coalition, Monzer Akbik, claimed that the transition process had started in earnest.

'Today we had the chance to speak directly to regime... You know dictators usually, they don't like to listen. But today they had to listen to us and to the voice of the Syrian people that they want transition from dictatorship to democracy.'

However Syria's Ambassador to the UN Bashar Jafari - part of the government delegation - earlier told the BBC that it was 'too early' to talk of Mr Assad stepping down and that the issue was 'not the priority'.

'Item number one should be putting an end to the terrorism and to the violence,' he said.

The envoy said the common ground between the parties 'should be that we should talk about everything, everything, without any selectivity... and no preconditions and no hidden agendas'.

But he accused the coalition delegation of harbouring 'personal hatreds towards the government for whatever reasons'.

Syria's civil conflict has claimed well over 100,000 lives since it began in 2011.

The violence has also driven 9.5 million people from their homes, creating a major humanitarian crisis within Syria and for its neighbours.

Geneva Communique

A UN-backed meeting in 2012 issued the document and urged Syria to:

Form transitional governing body Start national dialogue Review constitution and legal system Hold free and fair elections

The opposition and government are fundamentally divided over the aims of the conference.

The government delegation has said the main issue of the talks is finding a solution to foreign-backed 'terrorism', by which it means the whole of the armed opposition.

The opposition, however, had insisted that the regime commit in writing to the 2012 Geneva I communique, which called for a transition process.

The communique urged Syria to form a transitional governing authority that 'could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups'.