Syria Envoy ducks talk of Assad future at UN meeting

GENEVA, March 19: Syria’s government on Friday (Mar 18) said it held “useful” talks with the United Nations envoy on a political solution to the conflict, but stopped short of meeting his call for clear plans on a new government.
The Damascus government’s lead negotiator Bashar al-Jafaari spoke for just over a minute after his meeting with UN mediator Staffan de Mistura and refused to take questions.
Before Friday’s meeting, de Mistura voiced the hope he would get “in-depth clarity from the government” about options for political transition.
But in his brief remarks, Jafaari said the meeting focused only on a document Damascus submitted to the UN earlier this week, which laid out “fundamental principles for a political solution to the crisis in Syria”.
“The adoption of these principles will pave the way for a serious dialogue … without any foreign intervention and without pre-conditions,” Jafaari said after the meeting.
De Mistura on Thursday praised the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) for offering “substantive” plans for a transition. But the HNC has made the departure of Assad an unalterable demand, while Damascus has termed any talk of the president’s removal “a red line”.-Agencies