Syria ready to attend Geneva peace talks: Foreign minister
Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem has announced Syria's readiness to attend peace negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva aimed at ending the deadly crisis in his country.
“Syria is ready to participate in the Syrian-Syrian dialog in Geneva without any foreign interference,” Muallem told reporters in Beijing on Thursday.
The UN Security Council on December 18 adopted a resolution supporting an international roadmap for a peace process in Syria. The UN seeks to convene peace negotiations in Geneva some time in January 2016.
Muallem said the government delegation would be ready as soon as Damascus received a list of the opposition delegates due to attend the talks and the “terrorist organizations” to be barred from the negotiations.
“We hope that this dialog will be successful to help us in having a national unity government,” he said.
Jordan has been tasked by the UN with coming up with the list of the groups banned from taking part in the talks. The list includes terror groups like Daesh and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.
The Syrian foreign minister also said Damascus will form a constitutional committee to seek a new constitution with new election laws.
The parliamentary elections, Muallem said, will be held "within the period of 18 months, more or less.”
The UN resolution has called for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria and the formation of a “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian” government within six months and UN-supervised “free and fair elections” within 18 months.
On Wednesday, President Bashar al-Assad’s political and media adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, said the Syrian government approves of the resolution.
The Syrian crisis has so far claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million others injured, according to the UN.
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