Syria agrees to attend Geneva conference rebuffs its agenda

The Syrian government announced Thursday that it will attend the UN-sponsored Geneva conference for Syria peace planned next week, but voiced rejection to the declared agenda of the conference. "I am pleased to inform you that Syria will take part in the Geneva conference. But should be noted that we do not agree with certain points mentioned in the letter of invitation, simply for the reason that they are in conflict with the legal and political position of the State of Syria," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Muallem writes in reply to an invitation from Ban Ki-moon. The content of the letter was read out by the Deputy Spokesman of UN Chief Farhan Haq. The Syrian Foreign Minister vowed to continue fighting till eliminating what he described as terrorist forces in his country. "It remains a priority for the Syrian people to continue to fight terrorism, " he wrote. "We demand countries supporting terrorism to stop funding, training, arming or harboring terrorist groups as per international law and UN resolutions." For his part, the Deputy Spokesman of the UN Secretary General Haq refused to comment on the content of the letter. The UN Secretary General haD sent a letter to the Syrian government to attend the planned Geneva conference. In his invitation letter, Ban wrote "Confirmation of attendance will be taken as commitment to the aims of the Conference stated above, in accordance with the Geneva Communiqu{, in particular the Principles and Guidelines for a Syrian-led Transition contained in it a transitional governing body with full executive power".