UN eyes Syria deal on constitutional committee
(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
United Nations, United States, Sept 19 (AFP/APP):The United Nations has clinched a deal between Syrian stakeholders on the line-up of a committee tasked with drafting a new constitution for the
war-ravaged country, the UN chief said Wednesday.
“There is now an agreement among all parties on the composition of the committee,” Antonio Guterres said during a press conference on the upcoming UN General Assembly.
UN Syria envoy “Geir Pedersen is doing the final work with the parties in relation to the terms of reference and we hope that this will be very soon concluded,” Guterres said.
Years of UN-sponsored peace negotiations have failed to end the conflict that erupted in 2011 and Pedersen has focused his efforts on the creation of a constitutional committee.
The list of its members has been highly contentious with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad taking issue with some of the proposed names.
The committee is due to include 150 members, a third picked by the regime, another by the opposition and the remaining third by the United Nations.
