21 March 2016•Update: 22 March 2016
By Fatih Erel
GENEVA
The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Monday said the Syrian regime was finding premature to discuss a political transition during the ongoing Syria peace talks in Geneva.
De Mistura held a press conference in Geneva after a meeting with a Bashar al-Assad regime delegation led by Bashar Jaafari as part of the peace talks.
Asked about Jaafari’s understanding of the phrase “political transition”, de Mistura said: "That is a very good question that l raised that to him today. He said it was premature to talk about it."
He added that, should there be no progress on political transition, the current cessation of hostilities and humanitarian aid access would not hold.
Jaafari excluded the future of Assad from the Syria talks.
"The references of our talks do not give any indication whatsoever with regard to the president of the Syrian Arab Republic,” said Jaafari in a press conference after the meeting. “So, this is something that is already excluded."
The new round of talks in Geneva aim to end the war that has seen at least 250,000 Syrians killed and more than 11 million displaced, led to the rise of Daesh and sparked a refugee crisis.
The talks ended abruptly last month amid a Syrian government military offensive backed by Russian air power. Later, the U.S. and Russia agreed a “cessation of hostilities” deal that saw a dramatic reduction in fighting.
