Entry 15 - January 16, 2014

John Kerry urges Syria opposition to attend talks

BBC News         Thursday, January 16, 2014

     Syrians have been at the middle of a conflict for almost three years. US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has urged Syria's opposition to attend next weeks peace talks and on Friday, the main political opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, is going to have a vote on whether or not to go to the talks. Over 100,000 people have died in this three year conflict and an estimated two million people have left the country. One of the Syrian National Council's officials said that they had been privately warned that Britain and the US would rethink their support if Syria's opposition doesn't attend the peace talks. The head of the UN body has been given the job of destroying Syria's chemical weapons. Ahmet Uzumcu, member of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), says that they hope to have the weapon stockpile destroyed by the end of June as promised.

      In my opinion Syria should attend these peace talks without question. It seems almost obvious that they should attend the talks because Britain and the US may reconsider their support if Syria's opposition doesn't go to the talks. Other than that, I'm happy that the chemical weapons are being disposed of after the small scare of the United States having to attack Syria to remove the weapons by force. It's very sad that people are still dying often in this long conflict, but step by step, like the removal of the chemical weapons, I feel that things will get better soon.