CARA ANNA
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The outspoken new U.N. envoy on Syria said Thursday he is pursuing an “action plan” that involves freezing the conflict in certain areas, possibly starting with Aleppo, to allow for humanitarian aid and local steps of a political process toward wider peace.
Staffan de Mistura, in his first briefing to the U.N. Security Council, also said the “horrific trigger” of the Islamic State group’s recent onslaught offers an opportunity for another approach to a solution to the deeply entrenched conflict.
De Mistura is the third envoy to try to bring the more than three-year civil war to an end. Activists say more than 200,000 people have been killed since protests against the government of President Bashar Assad spiraled into violence in 2011.
De Mistura briefed the council after visiting key countries with influence on any possible solution to the conflict. In recent days, he has traveled to Iran and Russia to meet with two top allies of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The new envoy offered few details publicly after briefing the council. “I don’t have a peace plan, which would be presumptuous,” he told reporters. “I do have an action plan.”
He also stressed that the Geneva communique, agreed on by major powers at a Geneva conference in June 2012 calling for the establishment of a transitional governing body for Syria, was still valid — even though Assad was elected this year to another seven-year term.
De Mistura said some council members expressed concern that what he called “incremental freezes” to the conflict in certain areas of Syria would benefit one side or another in the fighting.
Council members were continuing their closed-door meeting Thursday and had not yet emerged.
De Mistura is preparing for another round of visits to the region, including to Damascus.
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