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Syria ready to discuss inclusive unity government: Ja'afari

Tuesday, 19 April 2016 2:16 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 19 April 2016 2:15 PM ]

Bashar al-Ja’afari, the Syrian ambassador to the UN and chief negotiator in Geneva talks ©Reuters

Syria's chief negotiator in peace talks with the foreign-backed opposition says Damascus is prepared to discuss the formation of a new inclusive unity government but the future of President Bashar al-Assad remains off limits.

Bashar al-Ja’afari, who also serves as Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, made the remarks in an interview with AFP in Geneva on Tuesday.

"A broader unity government is the only topic of discussion here," Ja’afari said. However, the Syrian ambassador added, “It is not in our jurisdiction, it is not within our prerogatives” to talk about Assad’s fate.

The latest round of indirect UN-brokered negotiations on the Syria crisis began in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 13.

Five days later, however, the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) suspended its formal participation at the talks in protest at what it called escalating violence in the Arab country.

Ja’afari criticized the opposition’s move as "childish and adolescent behavior."

During the Geneva discussions, Staffan de Mistura, who is the UN special envoy for Syria, floated the idea of President Assad remaining in power in exchange for the opposition's nomination of three Syrian vice presidents.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura attends a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, April 18, 2016. ©Reuters

The opposition dismissed the proposal while Ja’afari took a similar position, saying the Damascus government was unequivocally against such an initiative.

That idea "will never be discussed in any upcoming session because it is not within the authority of the negotiators in Geneva," the Syrian diplomat said.

The opposition insists on Assad’s resignation, saying he cannot be part of any transitional or interim government. On the contrary, the government says the fate of Assad is a red line and only the Syrian people can decide about it.

Meanwhile, De Mistura said the peace talks would continue despite renewed violence in Syria threatening a fragile truce on the ground.

The ceasefire, brokered by the US and Russia, went into effect on February 27 across Syria, excluding terrorist groups such as the Takfiri Daesh and al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.

Later Tuesday, de Mistura is expected to meet the ceasefire monitoring taskforce after talks with two smaller opposition groups that are present at the Geneva negotiations.

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