Nebenzya: New UN Special Envoy for Syria Should Rely on What Has Been Achieved by His Predecessor

UNITED NATIONS- The United Nations Secretary General’s new special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen should rely on what has been achieved by his predecessor, Staffan de Mistura, who is leaving his post in late November after more than four years of work, , Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Friday, according to Itar Tass.

“I don’t think that Pedersen will give up all what has been achieved before his appointment,” Nebenzya stressed, pointing out that “we have resolution No. 2254 on Syria which is considered as a basis for political settlement and we also have Astana and Sochi formats, as well as what has been achieved as regards forming the constitutional committee”.  

 He did not rule out that de Mistura will finally manage to finish the formation of a constitutional committee in Syria before he leaves his office. At the same time, he called to refrain from setting artificial timeframes for these efforts as the main condition is to ensure that all the parties agree on the list of committee members, Tass said.

He went on to say that the Syrian government is keen on cooperating with the new special envoy who needs to be impartial, objective, diplomatic and creative in trying to move all the peace process.

Hamda Mustafa