The parties to the conflict in Syria and the United Nations, in the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, have agreed in principle on the composition of a committee to draft a new constitution for the civil war country. The UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen is in the process of finalizing a similar agreement with the conflicting parties, Guterres said yesterday in New York.
He hopes that the body will be able to create the conditions for a settlement of the eight-and-a-half-year civil war in Syria, said the UN Secretary-General. The UN has been working for months to get the committee off the ground. It is said to have 150 members, 50 of whom are elected by the government of rulers Bashar al-Assad, 50 by the opposition and 50 by the United Nations.
Apart from the composition of the Constitutional Committee of the negotiating partners also have to agree on the operation and the distribution of power in the body. This, according to diplomats, could take months again.
