Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria - Media Stakeout (Geneva, 4 September 2018)

Setting up a committee to have a constitutional reform in Syria will be a “moment of truth,” UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, said today at the United Nations in Geneva, ahead of a new round of meetings on the country’s future set for next week.
De Mistura said “I cannot and I will not at this stage forecast today how far we will be progressing on 10th and 11th September, but I do can state the following: it is going to be quite an important moment of truth.”
The UN mediator added that “this list of government, opposition and the third list, as we call it, have been shared and are very clearly on the table for the meeting on the 10th and the 11th. They are there, they have been there for a while. So also, an important option on how to help the Syrians side to organise the work of the constitutional committee”.
Next week’s meetings will involve the so-called “guarantor powers” -- Russia, Turkey and Iran -- and a later meeting set for 14th September will bring together senior representatives from Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The aim is to reach agreement over the composition of a committee that will help draft a new Syrian constitution for the war-ravaged country.
A UN Security Council meeting planned for 20th September, will review the Special Envoy’s report on progress towards the formation of a constitutional committee.
Asked if the current critical situation in Idlib could derail all progress on the formation of a constitutional committee, de Mistura said: “We still believe that the political process should not be hostage of anything, otherwise there will always be a reason or an excuse used by anyone to postpone everything else.”
More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria’s war started in 2011, in the aftermath of the brutal repression of anti-government protests.