Eighteen months into his mediation efforts, Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint UN-Arab League representative in Syria, has signaled the failure of his mission and tendered his resignation. Brahimi, having embarked on a mission to reconcile the Syrian combatants, coordinate international action, and create a new government for Syria, hinted that the international community was to blame for the worsening conditions in the country, which the UN now terms the “worst humanitarian crisis” in recent history. Brahimi, 80, said he was saddened to leave Syria at its time of need, but admitted that his efforts had been fruitless. Since the failure of the recent peace conference on Syria, dubbed Geneva II, many had expected Brahimi to step down. With Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad planning to run for another term in office, chances of reconciliation between the government and the opposition are non-existent, observers say. Throughout his mission, Brahimi maintained a facade of optimism, but even this was no longer tenable as the fighting dragged on with no end in sight. He had been hoping for Russian and American pressure on local groups forcing a compromise that would end the crisis. But as Washington and Moscow continued to hold opposite views on Syria, and the Ukrainian crisis drew world attention from Syria, he apparently knew that his mission was grinding to a halt. The Syrian opposition is divided over the significance of Brahimi's resignation, with some lamenting its repercussions and others saying that it has made no difference. But the mediator's resignation has generally been viewed as evidence of the collapse of political efforts to end the crisis. Munzir Al-Khadem, spokesman for the National Coordination Committee of Democratic Change (NCCDC), an opposition group, said that Brahimi's resignation had been expected. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Khaddam said that “the resignation of Lakhdar Brahimi was expected, and he was remarkably pessimistic in his last meeting with an NCCDC delegation a month ago.” Ibrahimi had intimated to opposition members that the Americans and Russians had let him down, Khaddam remarked. He said the “Americans were obstructing his efforts, citing the Ukrainian problem,” Khaddam added. Mohamed Sabra, legal adviser of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (NCSROF), said that Brahimi had quit because of the lack of international action on the crisis. Speaking to the Weekly, Sabra said “the resignation of Brahimi indicates that the international community has no desire to end the Syrian tragedy, through political efforts or otherwise.” Sabra, who attended the Geneva II negotiations, said that Brahimi's resignation constituted “the end of the political process as we know it.” Louay Hosein, leader of the Building the State Current, said that Brahimi's resignation had made no difference to the situation in the country. In remarks made to the Weekly, Hosein said that “I don't think that Brahimi's resignation will have a big impact on the course of the Syrian crisis. A solution to the crisis hinges on a US-Russian consensus, something mediators cannot do much about.” Syrian opposition member Haitham Manna said that Brahimi had decided to resign in early April, having failed to arrange a top-level meeting between the Russians and the Americans. According to Manna, Brahimi may have felt that it was time to go back to Algeria, where his skills were needed as the head of a yet-to-be-formed “political consultations committee.” NCSROF spokesman Louay Safi said that Brahimi's resignation was unlikely to change the current dynamic in the country or the “indecisiveness” of the major powers. Borhan Ghalyun, a Syrian academic and opposition member, said that the international community had let Brahimi down by failing to bring enough pressure to bear on the regime. “Everyone knows that the responsibility for obstructing the political solution lies with Al-Assad and his regime, which has undermined every chance for a settlement and instead has kept insisting that it is fighting terrorists,” Ghalyun said. Mohannad Al-Hosni, president of the Syrian Organisation for Human Rights, said that Brahimi was part of the problem, not the solution. Speaking to the Weekly, Al-Hosni said that “Brahimi started his mission in August 2012, when there were no affiliates of Al-Qaeda in the country, no Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and the death toll was about 25,000. He left Syria with terrorist groups running wild and the death toll at 200,000.” Brahimi's fault as mediator was that he had placed peace above justice, a tactic that was bound to lead to a “fragile peace,” according to Al-Hosni. “In Syria, we do not want peace at the expense of justice. We want to put all the key members of the regime who have taken part in the shedding of blood on trial,” he added.
