Syrian opposition polishes image in Geneva

Geneva: The Syrian opposition delegation to the Geneva peace talks has gone to pains over the past week to overcome its image as a fractious organisation mired in infighting, trying to present a strong and united front to the media, Western backers and Syrians back home.

The team, led by 44-year-old lawyer Ahmad Jarba, has come under intense focus at the first talks between any opposition representatives and the Syrian regime in nearly three years of civil war.

They were pressured to unify by their Western and Arab backers, who also financed a coterie of international advisers now surrounding the delegation in Geneva.

Jarba’s Syrian Opposition Coalition, an umbrella group of opponents to Bashar Al Assad’s regime, was so divided over attending the talks, Secretary of State John Kerry threatened to cut off aid to the group earlier this month unless it bridged differences and agreed to go.

In the past, meetings of the coalition were so acrimonious, they dissolved into fist fights as female representatives looked on, weeping.

But at Geneva, the group has been careful to speak with one voice. Still the delegation has been hobbled by a lack of support from most of the rebel groups fighting on the front lines in Syria. So even if an agreement can be reached, it would probably have little impact on the battlefield.

Western diplomats who support Jarba said his delegation’s ability to portray itself as serious, focused and unified has helped renew international support.

Delegates have insisted repeatedly that “for the first time ever, the regime will be forced to listen to the Syrian people” — a go-to line proposed by one of their new international advisers.

“My message to the Syrians in the middle, who have not made up their minds, is that you are tired of suffering, you are tired of agony,” Jarba said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Monday.

“We came here to find a solution,” he said, wearing a dark suit a bit too large for his thin frame, dark circles under his eyes. “There’s no hope in the regime. There’s no reason to bet on them.”

The opposition and its Western backers have insisted the continuing talks must focus on establishing a transitional government without Al Assad to take over Syria.

However, the regime has been adamant that there be no discussion of the president stepping aside. Even attempts to agree on much narrower confidence-building measures, such as easing a long-standing siege of a rebel-held area in the city of Homs, have come to naught.

The Syrian regime, meanwhile, has seized on Jarba’s lack of support from rebels who say he doesn’t represent them.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al Mekdad, speaking in Geneva, dismissed Jarba’s group, saying that it represented only a fraction of the opposition. Rebels are critical of Jarba and other coalition members because they live abroad.

But unlike many of the other activists in his group, Jarba lived in Syria until recently. He fled Damascus seven months into the revolution that began in March 2011, after he was arrested twice for supporting anti-government demonstrations.

He now lives in Istanbul, where the political opposition is based. He faced stiff opposition from within the ranks of his organisation over whether to attend the talks, with some denouncing any meeting with the government as a betrayal.

This divide helped Jarba sideline the opposition’s fringe elements, who voted against attending the talks. The coalition ended up leaving those opponents behind and bringing a small group to Geneva, making it easier to maintain cohesion.

Western diplomats said the split helped the coalition shed members who were holding it back by refusing to meet with the regime.

“It allowed the work to continue in a smoother fashion,” said a Western diplomat. The opposition’s lack of unity has been its downfall throughout the conflict, making it difficult for Western countries to offer robust military or other aid. But the Geneva conference offered the anti-Al Assad camp a chance to salvage its reputation.

The US suspended non-lethal aid to the opposition last month after another rebel group attacked a Free Syrian Army warehouse filled with American donated supplies. The FSA is the largest rebel fighting group in Syria and falls under Jarba’s umbrella. The US decided to resume that aid this month.

About 10 international advisers have been brought on to help polish the opposition’s image and provide strategic advice.

“You have to be able to carry the day and win the battle against the regime in the media,” said one Western adviser to the opposition who asked to remain anonymous.

One high-profile adviser, John Williams, is the former director of communications at Britain’s Foreign Office who worked with former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. He helped shape the UK’s media strategy during its negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme in 2003.