Former US president Jimmy Carter yesterday proposed three principles as a basis for Syria peace talks in Geneva: free elections, respect for their results and the deployment of peacekeepers.
The talks have gone nowhere up to now because each belligerent "has been allowed to define the preconditions for negotiations," Carter, who won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.
While President Bashar al-Assad considers his opponents terrorists and will not talk until they lay down their arms, the fractured opposition is demanding a full regime change, giving Assad no incentive to bargain.
Carter with co-writer American University professor Robert Pastor in an article proposed basing the Geneva talks -- set to begin in Switzerland on January 22 -- on letting the Syrian people decide on their future government in a free election closely monitored by international observers; an assurance that the victors will respect sectarian and minority groups; and the deployment of "a robust peacekeeping force" to make sure those goals are achieved.
They warned, unless these "difficult steps" are taken "the war may very well go on for another decade and likely create a wider circle of destruction and death."