Moallem: Syria Will Take Part in non-Binding UN Talks

Saturday, 3 October 2015

Moallem: Syria Will Take Part in non-Binding UN Talks

Local Editor

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem at the UN General Assembly

Syria will take part in UN talks aimed at launching formal negotiations on ending its four-year war but will not be bound by their outcome, Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Friday.

Moallem told the UN General Assembly that he understood the talks, proposed by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, to be "mainly to exchange ideas" and non-binding.

"I would like to announce here that Syria agrees to participate in the four brainstorming committees of experts proposed by the special envoy Staffan de Mistura," said Muallem.

De Mistura traveled to Syria last month to win President Bashar al-Assad's support for the new plan, the latest bid by the United Nations to lay the groundwork for peace after two failed attempts.

The four working groups will tackle safety and protection, political and legal affairs, the military and counter-terrorism, and reconstruction.

The foreign minister made clear that fighting the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group was the government's immediate focus and declared that the "Syrian army is capable of cleansing the country of those terrorists."

"Syria cannot implement any democratic political measures related to elections, a constitution or the like, while terrorism is striking at home," he said.

Moallem addressed the 193-nation assembly as Russian warplanes carried out a third day of air strikes in Syria, this time targeting the ISIL bastion of Raqa.

Russia and the United States have clashed over how to address the crisis in Syria with Moscow insisting that al-Assad's army must take part in the military campaign to defeat ISIL terrorists.