De Mistura hopes for progress on Syria constitution soon

The UN special envoy for Syria said work was ongoing to form a committee to draft a new constitution before the end of the year, but hurdles remained.

Staffan de Mistura made his comments in Jordan after meeting Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi, who said Jordan’s “firm position” was that a political solution must be found, and “destruction and killing must be stopped ... for Syria to be recovered and to restore its role as a cornerstone in the region”.

Last month, Syrian groups and mediators meeting in Kazakhstan failed to agree the formation of a constitutional committee – crucial to ending the seven-year civil war. Mr de Mistura at the time called it a “missed opportunity”.

At issue is the 50-member delegation comprising Syrian experts, civil society, independents, tribal leaders and women that Mr de Mistura was authorised to put together by countries attending a Russian-hosted Syrian peace conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on January 30.

Agreement has already been reached on a 50-member government delegation and a delegation equal in size from the opposition for the drafting committee.

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad said his government would consider only amendments to the current constitution, in defiance of the Sochi agreement to have the government, opposition and independents draft a new document.

“We are still working to make sure that if we can there will be an announcement regarding the constitutional committee,” said Mr de Mistura, whose term ends at the end of the year.

“If not, we will have to draw ourselves some conclusions.”

The UN envoy said he would probably deliver his last statement to the UN Security Council on December 20 and assess “where we are on the constitutional committee”.

In the capital Damascus, the Syrian army said it would demobilise by January 1 thousands of conscripts and reservists who have been serving in the military for five years. The announcement came after government forces recaptured large parts of the country this year.