There's limit to time US can spend on Mideast peace process – Kerry
4 April 2014, 15:20 -- US Secretary of State John Kerry has acknowledged that the United States is not omnipotent in the Middle East settlement. Speaking in Morocco's capital Rabat on Friday, Kerry said that there was a limit to the time the US could spend on the Middle East peace process unless the conflicting parties themselves were willing to move towards the success of the talks. Regretfully, both the Israeli and Palestinian sides had taken steps that were not helpful, he added. Washington intends to evaluate precisely what the next steps will be, Kerry said.
US to evaluate 'exactly what is possible and what is not possible' in MidEast talks - Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was evaluating whether to continue its role in Middle East peace talks after both Israeli and Palestinian sides had taken steps that were not helpful to the negotiations.
Speaking during a visit to Morocco, Kerry said it was 'reality check time' and there was a limit to the time the United States could spend on the peace process if the parties themselves were unwilling to take constructive measures, Reuters reports.
'This is not an open-ended effort, it never has been. It is reality check time, and we intend to evaluate precisely what the next steps will be,' Kerry said.
Work underway to arrange Geneva-III conference on Syria - Moscow
Moscow wants negotiations in Geneva between Syria's government and opposition to resume as soon as possible. The bloody armed conflict in Syria has no military solution and can be settled exclusively through political and diplomatic methods, and in the absence of any alternative to this negotiating process, which was launched in Montreux on January 22 should be restarted as soon as possible, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said commenting the possible Geneva-III international conference.
'Our firm position is that the bloody armed conflict in Syria has no military solution and can be settled exclusively through political and diplomatic methods. In the absence of any alternative to this negotiating process, which was launched in Montreux on January 22, we speak out in favor of its soonest possible resumption. We believe that the inter-Syrian talks, the first two rounds of which were held in Geneva, are still far from exhausting their potential and should be restarted as soon as possible,' Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said when commenting on a statement made by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concerning the Geneva-III international conference, as well as a possible Russia-US-UN meeting dedicated to the Syrian settlement process.
'In principle, the agenda for the third round has already been agreed upon. It paves the way for discussions on a whole set of issues: the need to stop violence and the fight against terrorism, the formation of a transitional ruling body involving representatives of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic and various segments of the Syrian political opposition, as well as other tasks that stem from the Geneva communique dated June 30, 2012,' Lukashevich said.
'It is imperative to avoid imposing any agreements on the Syrian sides taking part in the talks, but make sure that these agreements are based on their mutual consent,' he said.
'In this context, it especially relevant today to make the opposition's delegation as representative as possible, which should make the opponents of the Syrian government more willing to reach agreements and should guarantee the implementation of agreements to be achieved by the sides in the course of their dialogue,' he said.
Russia's arguments in favor of the advisability of resuming these negotiations in Geneva as soon as possible have been generally met with understanding during numerous contacts on the Syrian problem that have taken place recently between Russian diplomats and foreign officials, including UN-Arab League peace envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, Lukashevich said.
As for any concrete timeframe for launching the third round of this negotiating process, 'the information available to us, as the co-authors of the Syria international conference initiative, suggests that no such dates have been determined so far, although work is now underway on these issues,' he said.
'A new meeting in the trilateral Russia-US-UN format may become an important element of this work,' Lukashevich said.
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