U.N. Envoy to Visit Syria to Discuss Peace 'Ideas'
The U.N. envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is to visit Damascus on Thursday to discuss peace "ideas" with the embattled regime's top diplomat, a senior government official said.
"He will meet (Foreign Minister) Walid Muallem because Syria expects answers to questions" about his plan, the official told AFP.
De Mistura's assistant, Ramzi Ezzedine Ramzi, handed the government a 60-page document in mid-August summarizing "ideas" that the envoy had collected from the regime, opposition and civil society.
A diplomat in Damascus said the Syrian authorities had then asked a series of questions and were now awaiting answers.
The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the regime was insisting the "fight against terrorism" be a priority for the political process.
On July 29, the envoy proposed a fresh approach to keeping the stalled peace efforts alive by inviting Syrians to take part in "thematic" working groups.
But the regime does not want the work of the four groups to be binding, according to the diplomat.
The four committees are to be made up of people chosen by the regime and the opposition.
They are tasked with addressing four main areas: security, political issues including elections, the military aspect including the fight against "terrorism" and a possible ceasefire, and the country's reconstruction.
It will be de Mistura's sixth visit to Damascus but the first since he condemned Damascus over August 16 air strikes that killed nearly 100 people in the rebel-held town of Douma, near the capital, angering the government.
President Bashar Assad's regime has been at war with different rebel groups since March 2011, in a conflict that has killed at least 240,000 people and forced millions to flee abroad.
Source: Agence France Presse
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