UN Security Council disagrees on joint statement about Syria
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The UN Security Council on Tuesday failed to agree on a joint statement on war-torn Syria's restoration of the stalled political process as put forth by the UN special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen. The sources blamed Russia for obstructing negotiations to reach a joint statement.
The Russian diplomatic mission to the United Nations, however, did not comment on the reasons for the failure of the negotiations.
The Syrian conflict has been on the plate for than a decade and yet, the failed effort to produce a statement reflects the extreme strain of stepping further to end the crisis. The conflict has, since 2011, killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.
"There is a lack of trust and confidence and a lack of will to compromise – and a lack of political space to compromise too," Pedersen stated.
Pedersen said that without "constructive international diplomacy" on Syria, it was unlikely that "any track - constitutional track or any other -- will really move forward."
After the briefing, Estonia, France, Ireland, Belgium and Germany in a joint statement held the Syrian government responsible for impeding the peace process and refusing to engage constructively on the proposals of Pedersen and the Syrian opposition.
"Unfortunately, despite five rounds of discussions over the past year and a half, we regret that no substantial progress has been made at these meetings towards the drafting of a constitutional reform in line with Security Council Resolution 2254," the statement said.
The US and several Western allies have previously alleged Syria's President Bashar al Assad of intentionally delaying the drafting of a new constitution to avoid UN-supervised voting in the upcoming presidential elections.