United Nations endorses peace plan for Syria

A peace plan agreed to last month by 20 nations meeting in Vienna sets a January 1 deadline for the start of negotiations between Assad’s government and opposition groups.

Security Council adopted unanimously on Friday a resolution on initiating a process of political transition in Syria.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled two recent meetings on the Syrian conflict in Vienna, saying that the UN stands ready to undertake these important tasks, including a Syrian-led political transition and a nationwide ceasefire.

But the resolution makes no mention of the most contentious issue, the future role of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Kerry said the resolution sends “a clear message to all concerned that the time is now to stop the killing in Syria”.

The decision “is a milestone”, U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who led the talks with his Russian counterpart, stated via Twitter. “There obviously remain sharp differences within the worldwide community, especially about the future of President Assad”. It also endorsed the continued battle to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who have seized large swaths of both Syria and neighboring Iraq.

The Security Council resolution calls for “free and fair elections” supervised by the United Nations within 18 months in which all Syrians, including those overseas, would be eligible to vote.

Members of the country’s fractured opposition have reacted coolly to the plan, calling it unrealistic and insisting that Assad must go for peace to happen.

“For us such a criteria would include certain organizations’ regular shelling of residential districts of Damascus and other inhabited areas, including repeated shelling of the Russian Embassy in Syria”, Lavrov said.

That being the future role of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Foreign Secretary met counterparts from ISSG states the US, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Turkey in Paris on Monday, and said that it was the “clear intention” of Mr Kerry to seek agreement in NY on a ceasefire deal for Syria.

They mostly involve direct contacts between Anne Patterson, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and a former ambassador to Egypt and Pakistan, and Faisal Mekdad, Syria’s deputy foreign minister and former permanent envoy to the United Nations.

“How could somebody bring together a whole people when he has massacred so many?”.

The Security Council reiterated earlier calls for member states to suppress terrorist acts by Islamic State (IS), Al-Nusra Front and all other terrorist groups.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister on Friday presented a draft list of “terrorist” groups before the International Syria Support Group, which the parties will agree to exclude from the peace talks.

“We have an unambiguous mandate with this United Nations resolution, including a time frame that envisions initial talks toward a cease-fire and the formation of a transitional government”, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ON Saturday in Berlin after meeting with his Chinese counterpart.