Vice-president of the Syrian Coalition Abdul Rahman Mustafa said that the Assad regime’s obstruction of negotiations is aimed at preventing the launch of a political transition in Syria as was stipulated in international resolutions on Syria, especially the Geneva Communiqué of 2012 and UN Security Council resolution 2254.
Mustafa, who is in Geneva for the latest round of UN-sponsored talks, said that the delegation of the Syrian opposition’s Negotiations Committee discussed political transition, one of the four baskets on the agenda of talks, with the UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura on Thursday. Mustafa stressed that the implementation of political transition is the most feasible way to put an end to the suffering of the Syrian people.
Mustafa, who is member of the Committee, said that the Committee is still ready to enter into direct negotiations with the Assad regime, stressing that forcing the Assad regime into the negotiations table is the responsibility of the United Nations. He noted that the holding of direct negotiations would push the political process forward.
Meanwhile, de Mistura urged Russia on Wednesday to convince its ally the Assad regime of the need to clinch a peace deal to end the nearly seven-year-old war.
De Mistura, speaking on Swiss television station RTS, said that “the government is not ready, it has said it is not ready to meet the opposition. That is regrettable but diplomacy has many means.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
