(GENEVA) An eighth round of talks on a new constitution for Syria concluded on Friday, after which the rival sides made very little progress, the UN mediator said.
Posted at 7:15 p.m.
The talks are taking place between 15 representatives of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, the opposition and civil society, mediated by UN representative Geir Pedersen.
The Norwegian diplomat said this week’s round of talks had made little progress.
“On certain principles, the disputes remained important. On others, there were potential common ground,” Mr. Pedersen’s office said in a statement.
Discussions focused on constitutional principles, including the preservation and strengthening of state institutions, the primacy of the constitution and the hierarchy of international agreements, as well as transitional justice.
Photo LOUAI BESHARA, Agence France-Presse
UN Mediator Geir Pedersen and Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad during a meeting in May 2022.
The special envoy, however, underlined the slowness of the work, and the persistent inability to identify concrete areas of provisional agreement, or areas where there is a large room for improvement.
“He reiterates his call on all members to work with a sense of compromise and to work towards constitutional texts that would be likely to generate broad support among Syrians,” the statement continued.
Government and opposition officials have agreed to hold a ninth round of talks in Geneva from July 25-29.
The Syrian Constitutional Committee was established in September 2019 and met for the first time a month later, to rewrite the constitution, hoping to pave the way for a broader political process.
Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011 after protests demanding regime change were violently suppressed.
It quickly turned into a complex conflict that involved many actors, including jihadist groups and foreign powers.
The war has claimed around half a million lives and displaced millions of people.