Latest Syrian constitutional talks end with disappointment: UN envoy
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The renewed constitutional talks between Syrian delegations in Geneva ended with disappointment, United Nations envoy Geir Pedersen said Friday.
The 45-member Syria Constitutional Committee - 15 members from each regime, Turkey-backed opposition and civil society - held its sixth round of talks this week. The three sides submitted draft texts on different areas of the constitution, but they did not make any progress in their discussions.
“The discussion today was a big disappointment. We did not manage to achieve what we had hoped to achieve: that we would have a good discussion on how to reach forward for some kind of a consensus," Pedersen said in a news conference. "We lacked a proper understanding on how to move that process forward."
The envoy said there have been “ups and downs” in the course of latest talks.
This round of negotiations began with optimism that the regime and opposition were ready to draft constitutional reforms. The process was suspended in January after their fifth meeting also ended with disappointment and Pedersen spent the next eight months working to form some consensus between the two sides.
The opposition and regime teams traded barbs, each blaming the other for the lack of progress.
Ahmad Kuzbari, head of the regime delegation, said in a press conference that the proposals submitted by the opposition were “far from reality, reflecting some aspects of a hostile agenda,” reported state-owed SANA.
He accused the opposition of “continuous attempts to foil this round and not enable it to come up with any result despite the effective contribution of the national [regime] delegation to make it success.”
Responding to Kuzbari’s claims, Hadi al-Bahra, head of the opposition delegation, said the regime side did not even attempt to reach a consensus.
He also said their positions were very close on several issues like the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Syria, but the regime “still insisted that there was no consensus.”
No date has been set for the next round of talks.
The constitution committee was created in September 2019 as part of efforts to find a political solution to Syria’s conflict. The Kurdish autonomous administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) is not invited to the talks, partly because of a veto by Turkey.
More than 350,000 people have been killed in a decade of civil war in Syria, according to UN figures. Half the pre-war population have fled their homes and 90 percent of Syrians are living in poverty. This week saw one of the bloodiest days in months with nearly 30 people killed.
The 45-member Syria Constitutional Committee - 15 members from each regime, Turkey-backed opposition and civil society - held its sixth round of talks this week. The three sides submitted draft texts on different areas of the constitution, but they did not make any progress in their discussions.
“The discussion today was a big disappointment. We did not manage to achieve what we had hoped to achieve: that we would have a good discussion on how to reach forward for some kind of a consensus," Pedersen said in a news conference. "We lacked a proper understanding on how to move that process forward."
The envoy said there have been “ups and downs” in the course of latest talks.
This round of negotiations began with optimism that the regime and opposition were ready to draft constitutional reforms. The process was suspended in January after their fifth meeting also ended with disappointment and Pedersen spent the next eight months working to form some consensus between the two sides.
The opposition and regime teams traded barbs, each blaming the other for the lack of progress.
Ahmad Kuzbari, head of the regime delegation, said in a press conference that the proposals submitted by the opposition were “far from reality, reflecting some aspects of a hostile agenda,” reported state-owed SANA.
He accused the opposition of “continuous attempts to foil this round and not enable it to come up with any result despite the effective contribution of the national [regime] delegation to make it success.”
Responding to Kuzbari’s claims, Hadi al-Bahra, head of the opposition delegation, said the regime side did not even attempt to reach a consensus.
He also said their positions were very close on several issues like the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Syria, but the regime “still insisted that there was no consensus.”
No date has been set for the next round of talks.
The constitution committee was created in September 2019 as part of efforts to find a political solution to Syria’s conflict. The Kurdish autonomous administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) is not invited to the talks, partly because of a veto by Turkey.
More than 350,000 people have been killed in a decade of civil war in Syria, according to UN figures. Half the pre-war population have fled their homes and 90 percent of Syrians are living in poverty. This week saw one of the bloodiest days in months with nearly 30 people killed.