Syria Says U.S. Created "Negative Climate" In Geneva

[Purveyor]

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's foreign minister on Sunday accused the United States of trying to create a "negative climate" for dialogue at the second round of peace talks in Geneva.

The comments by Walid al-Moallem come a day after the meetings between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition seeking his ouster ended without finding a way of breaking the impasse in the nearly three-year-old conflict.

Al-Moallem spoke to the state news service about the talks as the Syrian delegation was returning from Switzerland to Damascus on Sunday. He said the U.S. tried to "create a very negative climate for dialogue in Geneva."

Syria's conflict started as largely peaceful protests against Assad in March 2011 but later degenerated into a civil war in which more than 140,000 people have been killed, according to activists.

The U.N.'s human rights office said in January it has stopped updating the death toll from the war, confirming that it can no longer verify the sources of information that led to its last count of at least 100,000 in late July.

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/02/16/negative-climate-in-geneva/5533533/

[geek tragedy]

1. poison gas and castrating school boys has also been known to sour the mood, nt

[Cali_Democrat]

3. It's all Obama's fault

We need Putin to save Syria from evil Obama!!

[pampango]

2. The UN mediator seems to disagree.

U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi apologized to the Syrian people for failing to reach progress.

Brahimi explained to reporters in Geneva that the second round of talks ended Saturday with the Syrian government refusing to discuss how to create a transitional government body, as the opposition and its Western backers insist.

Ending violence and combating terrorism had been the main thrust of the government's stance in Geneva, and both were put up for discussions.

"Unfortunately the government has refused, which raises the suspicion of the opposition that in fact the government doesn't want to discuss the TGB (transitional governing body) at all," Brahimi said.