Syria: Peace talks end in stalemate.

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The first round of a contentious week of peace talks for Syria ended on Friday without any progress toward ending the civil war, and the government delegation did not indicate whether it would return for the next stage in ten days.

To make the picture even grimer, the United States and Russia disagreed on the pace of the transfer of chemical weapons from Syria, and the US government accused Syrian authorities of intentionally delaying the schedule by several weeks. Russia, the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, rejected this accusation.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Syrian authorities had no excuse for the delay in sending their arsenal of poison gas abroad, as part of an agreement signed last year. The Russian government stated that Assad acted in good faith and the June 30 deadline for the elimination of all chemical agents remains feasible.

Meanwhile, United Nations mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who has been tirelessly seeking a peace agreement that other diplomats consider an "impossible mission," stated that the opposition delegation will return on February 10, but Assad's delegates told him they will have to consult with the government in Damascus before agreeing to return.

"They didn't tell me they were thinking of not coming. On the contrary, they said they would come, but they need to consult their capital," Brahimi declared in a press interview.

Brahimi listed ten simple points on which he felt the two sides agreed and stated that he thought there was more common ground than either side acknowledged.

But neither side budged an inch from their positions: the opposition wants the talks to focus on a transitional government that removes Assad from power; the government wants to discuss combating "terrorism"—a word it uses to refer to all armed enemies.

"In reality, progress is very slow, but the parties have participated in an acceptable manner," said Brahimi.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem blamed the lack of tangible results on what he described as the immaturity and narrow composition of the opposition delegation and its "threats to implode" the talks, as well as blatant US interference.

"There are huge divisions between them (the opposition delegation) and about what is happening in Syria. They are not in touch with what is happening in Syria - and they have no control over anyone on the ground," Moualem told reporters.

The Friends of Syria, an alliance predominantly of Western countries and Persian Gulf states that support Assad's enemies, blame the Syrian government for the lack of diplomatic progress.

"The regime is responsible for the lack of real progress in the first round of negotiations. It should not obstruct further substantive negotiations and must engage constructively in the second round of negotiations," they said in a statement.

U.S. State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez says the Syrian government "continues to try to deceive others" with its non-committal stance on future talks, while the opposition has shown seriousness by committing to returning to the negotiating table.

"The people of Syria are watching and will determine who truly has their best interests at heart. The Syrian people, who have suffered so much, deserve constructive engagement now and in the next round," Vasquez said.

(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Geneva; Lesley Wroughton in Berlin; Oliver Holmes and Stephen Kalin in Beirut; Missy Ryan in Warsaw; and Steve Gutterman in Moscow)