Syria, Chemical Weapons Use and the Need for Negotiated Peace Efforts

It is to be hoped that all the parties may prefer a negotiated settlement rather than the current stalemate of each trying to dominate the other. A start would be to set an agenda of issues to be negotiated between the oppositions and the government.

The use of chemical weapons in Syria by whatever forces in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol has focused world attention on the conflict in Syria. The first reaction “to bomb Syria even if it is illegal” has fortunately slowed down and given cooler heads a chance to weigh the more adequate measures to be taken. Awareness of the dangers of the current situation in terms of lives lost, refugee flows, negative impacts on neighboring countries and a permanent fracturing of Syrian society is growing. The Syrian challenge calls for creative responses. The common theme must be on the duty of all parties to start negotiations in good faith.