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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Damascus Rejects U.N. Plan on Constitution Committee |
| 2018-10-27 |
| [An Nahar] A United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... plan to end the seven-year civil war in Syria has run aground after Damascus blocked the world body's proposal for a committee to draft a new constitution, provoking anger among western powers. U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura has been working since January on forming a group of 150 members to thrash out a new constitution, seen as a first step to winding down a conflict that has cost more than 360,000 lives. Under the U.N. plan, the Syrian regime would choose 50 of the committee members, the Syrian opposition another 50 and the U.N. would nominate the final 50, composed of representatives of civil society and technical experts. De Mistura, a veteran Italian-Swedish diplomat due to step down next month, said Friday that Foreign Minister Walid Muallem rejected the last list of UN-proposed names and suggested his own method to the final 50 members during talks in Damascus this week. "Walid Muallem didn't accept a role for the U.N. in identifying or selecting a third list," the envoy told the U.N. Security Council by video conference during an emergency session called by the United States. "Rather, Mr Muallem indicated that the governments of Syria and Russia had agreed recently that the three Astana guarantors (Iran, Russia and ...Qatar's colony in Asia Minor.... ) and the Syrian government would in consultations among them prepare a proposal as regards the third list." De Mistura said withdrawing the U.N. list was only possible "if there was an agreement on a new credible, balanced and inclusive list" that complied with U.N. resolutions and commitments made in January talks in the Russian resort town of Sochi. |
| Posted by:Fred |