The first round of talks between the Syrian government and opposition to draft constitutional reforms in Geneva ended disappointingly, with no new date set for the next meeting, announced the United Nations envoy to Syria on Friday. The talks began last Monday following a nine-month halt to UN-led meetings of the Syrian constitutional committee, which includes representatives from the government, the opposition, and civil society organizations.
Delegates returned to Geneva this week after mediation efforts led by UN envoy Geir Pedersen. They had agreed on a mechanism to begin drafting a constitution for the war-torn country as part of a political process led by the UN aimed at ending the decade-long conflict in Syria. However, Pedersen stated that the discussions on Friday were a "great disappointment," and that it was time to find a temporary agreement or at least identify areas of disagreement.
Over the last four days, each party presented its views on four fundamental principles on which there is division, according to Pedersen, who added to reporters, "We did not succeed in achieving what we hoped to achieve, that we would conduct a good discussion on how to move forward regarding some kind of consensus... we lacked the proper understanding of how to advance this process."
The government delegation prepared a text regarding Syria's sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and terrorism. The opposition representatives in exile drafted a text concerning the armed forces and security and intelligence agencies, while civil society organizations formulated the section concerning the rule of law.
Pedersen clarified that the last day of talks resulted in no understanding among the different delegations. It is still unclear what the delegations disagreed on, but representatives from both the government and the opposition later blamed each other for the failure.
Government representative Ahmad al-Kuzbari stated that some of the principles proposed by the opposition were "far from reality" and that some aimed to legitimize the presence of foreign forces in Syria. Meanwhile, opposition representative Hadi al-Bahra claimed that the government side did not present any consensus paper and lacked the will to do so.
Pedersen noted that no new date for the next meeting was agreed upon. He continued speaking to reporters, "We need to develop a proper understanding of how to move this to a substantive drafting process."
