The UN Special Envoy to Syria tweeted on Wednesday, that the final touches were being put one the formation of the constitutional committee in a way that accords with Security Council Resolution 2254 and “works to stop the violence in Syria.”
The envoy posted images of him meeting with Syria’s permanent representative to the Security Council, Bashar al-Jaafari, and said that there were “more meetings ahead.”
This comes days after Pedersen announced the resumption of his work on Syria and the political settlement 26 days after he was wounded in the eye in a traffic accident.
On Aug. 17, 2019, Pedersen’s Twitter account said that there needed to be, “a better future for all Syrians and we will continue working tirelessly to make that happen.”
The guarantor countries of the Astana process—Iran, Turkey and Russia—are meeting soon to form a constitutional committee composed of a regime list and an opposition list and a third civil society list with each list comprised of 50 names.
The opposition and regime lists have been agreed upon but a dispute over the civil society list has prevented the constitutional committee from being formed, because the regime has been rejecting the proposed names, as well as the previous UN Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mister, rejecting the civil society list put forward by Russia.
Pedersen faces a tough mission in reviving the negotiations in the United Nations after all previous rounds led by his predecessors have failed due to contradictory demands from all parties.
Pedersen is currently holding discussions with various parties, carrying out a visit to Damascus on Jul. 10, 2019, during which he met the regime foreign minister, Walid al-Muallem, where the formation of a constitutional committee was discussed.
Pedersen also met with the opposition Negotiations Committee on Jul. 12, 2019, and carried out a visit to Moscow at the start of last month, during which he met the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
