27 November 2017 – Ahead of fresh intra-Syrian talks on
Tuesday in Geneva, the United Nations mediator said
Monday that the crisis now has the potential to move towards “a genuine political process.”
“International players are clearly looking for some common ground based on the implementation
of Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), and are urging Syrians to begin to find some common
ground too,” UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told a Security Council meeting in
New York via video link from Geneva.
As mandated by resolution 2254, the talks focus on governance, a schedule and process to draft
a new constitution and the holding of elections as the basis for a Syrian-led, Syrian-owned process
to end the conflict.
Mr. de Mistura said that in preparing for the eighth round of
intra-Syrian talks, he called for “real”
diplomacy, with his messages focused on several points, such as that the Government and a united
opposition should engage in negotiations in Geneva without any
preconditions and that all other initiatives
should support this UN mediation process.
He noted that some important meetings have recently taken place in
Viet Nam’s DaNang, Russia’s Sochi, and Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh that might help the Geneva process.
In DaNang, Russian President Vladimir Putin and United States President
Donald Trump affirmed that the political process “must include
full implementation of Council resolution 2254.
In Sochi, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed, after meeting
President Putin, his intention to “talk with anyone who is really
interested in a political settlement.”
Mr. de Mistura, however, noted the Government has not yet confirmed its
participation in the new round of the UN-facilitated Geneva talks.
In Riyadh, an expanded opposition conference was convened last week,
with all three groups mentioned in resolution 2254 present. The Syrian Negotiations
Commission formed in Riyadh is travelling to Geneva.
United support of international community and Security Council vital for progress
"Assuming that both parties arrive in Geneva, we will be looking to move them into
beginning serious discussions and hopefully negotiations. Let me make one thing clear:
we will not accept any preconditions from either party,” he said.
He also stressed that more than 200 civil society actors will be engaged in the UN-led political
process in Geneva over the next weeks.
He said he is invited to participate in a preparatory meeting on Tuesday that France organized to
bring together representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council –
China, France,
Russia, United Kingdom and the United States – in Geneva.
As for a large gathering on Syria in the near future that Russia is planning,
Mr. de Mistrua said it is premature for him to say anything about that initiative.
“I will continue to view this proposal and all other initiatives through the same prism:
does it contribute to effective UN-led intra-Syrian negotiations
in Geneva to implement resolution 2254,” he said.
Syria has been at war for the last six years. Half of its population have fled their homes,
and, according to the UN’s relief wing, some 13 million people require humanitarian aid,
including nearly three million trapped in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.
Reconstruction will cost at least $250 billion.
“We see the emergence of international consensus, and we must begin to stitch the
process into concrete results, enabling Syrians to determine their own future freely,”
Mr. de Mistura said. “The united support of the international community, centred on this Council,
will be vital if negotiations are to move forward in a concrete way.”