Security Council backs plan to peacefully end Syria crisis
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has approved a plan calling for an intra-Syrian "political process" to end the crisis in the country.
On Monday, the 15-member council in a statement endorsed the initiative by the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, which calls for resolving the Syrian crisis through talks among “intra-Syrian working groups.”
The statement emphasized that “the only sustainable solution to the current crisis in Syria is through an inclusive and Syrian-led political process that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.”
The Security Council also called on Syrians to "work urgently" to implement a road map adopted during a June 2012 conference in Geneva which calls for the formation of a transition government in the Arab country “on the basis of mutual consent” of parties involved in the crisis.
The statement urged all parties involved in the Syrian crisis "to engage in good faith" with de Mistura to implement the peace initiative, which is set to begin in September and will focus on issues including simultaneous discussions among the Syrian parties on the key aspects of the roadmap adopted in 2012.
The peace initiative reportedly will set up four “working groups” to address safety and protection, counterterrorism, political and legal issues, and reconstruction.
The council statement also condemned “the ongoing and multiple terrorist acts" in Syria by the Daesh terrorist group and the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and reaffirmed "its resolve to address all aspects of the threat.”
On July 29, de Mistura invited Syrians to take part in what he called “parallel, or simultaneous, thematic discussions through intra-Syrian working groups,” in his comments to the Security Council.
"Such an international initiative will require the support of a contact group and we will get to that at the right time,” the envoy said.
The renewed efforts come as the Western-backed Geneva I and Geneva II peace conferences on Syria, which were held in June 2012 and February 2014 respectively, failed to resolve the Syrian crisis after foreign-sponsored opposition figures in the talks refused to discuss militancy and widespread terrorism in the country.
Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis over the past four years. According to reports, at least a quarter of a million Syrians have been killed in the crisis and 12 million people have fled their homes.
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