In Damascus, top UN envoy stresses need for credible, inclusive, ‘Syrian owned’ transition
- December 16, 2024
Damascus, Syria – The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, today stressed the need for a credible, inclusive, and “Syrian owned” transition during a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad in Damascus.
“We had a constructive and frank discussion about the urgency of moving forward on the political track, building on the progress that was made in the Constitutional Committee,” Pedersen said in a statement after the meeting.
The Constitutional Committee, established in 2019, is tasked with drafting a new constitution for Syria. It has held several rounds of talks, but has yet to reach a consensus on a final text.
Pedersen said that he and Mekdad also discussed the need to address the humanitarian crisis in Syria, which has been ongoing since the start of the civil war in 2011.
“We agreed on the importance of continuing our close cooperation on humanitarian issues, including early recovery projects,” Pedersen said.
The UN envoy also met with other Syrian officials, including President Bashar al-Assad, during his visit to Damascus.
Pedersen’s visit to Syria came as the country is preparing for presidential elections scheduled for next year. The elections are widely seen as a test of Assad’s grip on power.
Assad has been in power since 2000. He is running for a fourth term in office despite the fact that much of the country is still in ruins and the civil war is ongoing.
The opposition has called for the elections to be postponed until a political settlement can be reached and the humanitarian crisis has been resolved. The UN has also called for the elections to be free and fair.
It is unclear whether the elections will be held as scheduled. The Syrian government has said that they will go ahead, but the opposition has threatened to boycott them.
If the elections are held, they will be the first to be held in Syria since the start of the civil war.
In Damascus, top UN envoy stresses need for credible, inclusive, ‘Syrian owned’ transition
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