Bitter rifts over the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad threatened to scupper diplomatic efforts to end the country’s bloody civil war yesterday at fraught talks between world powers in Geneva. Warnings from peace envoy Kofi Annan that the international community would be judged severely for its failure to strike a deal appeared to do little to bring together rival factions led by the US and Russia.

It is the Syrian people who will be the greatest victims- Kofi Annan

“History is a sombre judge – and it will judge us all harshly if we prove incapable of taking the right path today,” Annan said at the start of a meeting.

“It is the Syrian people who will be the greatest victims, and their deaths will be the consequence of not only the acts of killers on the ground but also your inability to bridge the divisions between you.”

Still, diplomats were gloomy about the prospects of reaching a deal, which would chart a path toward a democratic Syria and end violence that has already killed 15,800.

“Discussions remain challenging,” a senior US official said a few hours into the negotiations, which brought together permanent Security Council members, the US, Russia, Britain, China and France, as well as regional powers Qatar, Turkey, Kuwait and Iraq.

“We continue to work on this today but we need a plan that is strong and credible, so we may get there, we may not,” the official said.

The question of who would take part in the transition remained a key sticking point. Moscow and Beijing oppose the creation of a national unity government that excludes those “whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation.” That wording would likely spell the political end of Assad.

Russia insists that Assad’s fate “must be decided within the framework of a Syrian dialogue by the Syrian people themselves”.