He proposed the formation of four subject-specific working groups, addressing “safety and protection for all”, “political and constitutional issues”, “military and security issues” and “public institutions, reconstruction and development”.
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After extensive consultations, de Mistura came up with what the Secretary-General called a viable alternative, which the Special Envoy presented himself this morning to the 15 Council members, a day after the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen OBrien, addressed the 15-member body, painting a grim picture of the situation on the ground in Syria.
“The asking price of persevering with the friendly battle is actually too high”.
“Sadly there is still no consensus on the way forward”, Staffan de Mistura told the UN Security Council after two months of meetings with key players in the conflict.
The Security Council unanimously endorsed the Geneva Communiqu, which remains the only internationally agreed basis for a political settlement to the Syrian conflict, he emphasized.
He said some political and opposition groups categorically reject power sharing with the Assad regime, while the regime continues to reject the concept of power sharing as unconstitutional. He also urged the council, Syria’s neighbors and regional sponsors of the parties fighting in Syria “to stem all flows of arms and foreign fighters pouring into the country” and “to stop using the country as a proxy battleground”.
He said the talks revealed a shared sense of urgency given recent gains by the Islamic State extremist group and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, and “talk about fragmentation, radicalization and sectarianism”.
The Italian diplomat said the working groups will begin the process “towards a Syrian owned framework document on the implementation of the Geneva Communique”, adding that the document is “still… internationally only recognized framework for a settlement, even if still ambiguous in some parts”.
The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, said his government would study de Mistura’s proposals “thoroughly”. Russia, an ally of Damascus, is meanwhile trying to get the rebels as well as Saudi Arabia and Turkey to talk with the government and forge an alliance against Islamic State.
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A Syrian government crackdown on a pro-democracy movement in 2011 led to an armed uprising.
