On Saturday 30 June, the international mediator for Syria, Kofi Annan, obtained support from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council for a political transition plan in Syria. The aim is to halt the violence and fighting in the country. Uncertainty remains as to the future of President Bashar al Assad.
Transition that satisfies the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people
The transition plan was approved at the end of a long day of talks by the new Action Group on Syria, at a meeting convened by the United Nations and Arab League Special Envoy, Kofi Annan, following the failure by the parties to the conflict to apply his plan. The document approved proposes “a Syrian-led political process leading to a transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people”. It also envisages the creation of a transitional governing body that “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, and should be formed on the basis of mutual consent”.
For the United States, the plan clearly “paves the way for a post-Assad future”, commented Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the press conference at the close of the meeting. “The plan calls for the Assad regime to give way to a new transitional governing body that will have full governance powers”, added Clinton. Assad’s days “are numbered”, she insisted.
For the Russian Foreign Minister, Serghei Lavrov, however, the document in no way implies that the Syrian President must stand down.
The Action Group also included – in addition to the five Security Council members (Russia, USA, China, France and Great Britain) – the foreign ministers of Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey; the Secretaries General of the UN and the Arab League; and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
The statement issued by the Group did not directly address the question of Assad’s resignation. But Annan hopes to achieve concrete results and progress within a year and said he was ready to visit Damascus to illustrate the next steps to the parties concerned.
The political transition process must be Syrian-led
In his comment on the outcome of the meeting in Geneva, Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi underscored that “the political transition process must be Syrian-led. Assad can have no role in this process – not because we have decided so but because he has lost all legitimacy in the eyes of the Syrian people”.
Terzi invited the opposition to demonstrate its spirit of responsibility, unity and collaboration for the application of the principles established in Geneva. He suggested that the forthcoming meeting in Cairo on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 July, that will include representatives of the opposition groups and in which Italy is taking part, will be “a highly important milestone for the development of this process”. The proposals that emerged from the Geneva meeting were, in Terzi’s view, “a clear and unified message by the international community on the path to follow to resolve the crisis”.
