UN envoy calls for renewed Syrian peace talks after earthquakes

BY DAILY SABAH WITH AGENCIES ANKARA

 MAR 09, 2023 -

Locals shift through the rubble of a collapsed building following earthquakes in Syria's opposition-held village of Atarib, northwestern Aleppo province, Syria, Feb. 14, 2023. 

(AFP Photo)

The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called on Wednesday for renewed attempts to reach a political solution to the war-torn country's nearly 12-year-old civil conflict in the wake of last month's devastating earthquakes.

Pedersen told reporters that the deadly 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude quakes that struck Türkiye and Syria last month had served as a "wake-up call to the world that the Syrian tragedy is far from over.”

“We need to take this attention and see if it can help us to unlock progress” in the political process, he said.

The earthquake, which killed more than 50,000 people, including about 6,000 in Syria, has already prompted some political concessions both from the regime in Damascus and its opponents.

The Syrian regime agreed to open additional border crossings for international aid to cross from Türkiye into opposition-held northwest Syria, while the United States and European countries relaxed some of their sanctions on Damascus.

Pedersen hailed that "in the aftermath of the earthquakes, humanitarian steps from all sides have moved beyond previous positions, even if temporarily."

"A month ago, there was no prospect of the opening of more border crossings nor of moves to ease sanctions in a concrete way. We have seen both moves now," he pointed out.

“We need the same logic that was applied on the humanitarian front to be applied at the political level,” Pedersen said at a news conference in Geneva.

"The earthquake in itself has shown that positive steps are possible if there is a political will."

Pedersen called for a “Syrian-led and owned political process facilitated by the United Nations” including a return to meetings of a committee formed to draft a new constitution for Syria, with representatives of both the government and opposition.

At a Russia-hosted Syrian peace conference in January 2018, an agreement was reached to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution. It took until September 2019 for the committee to be formed, and after eight rounds of talks, little progress was achieved.

In the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine and increased tensions between Moscow and European countries, the talks halted altogether, with the Syrian regime – which received heavy support from Russia in the civil war – refusing to come to meetings in Geneva.

Reconstruction of areas damaged in the civil war has largely been on hold in the absence of a political solution. The country's infrastructure is now further damaged by the earthquake.

Asked about the prospects for post-earthquake reconstruction, Pedersen noted that the quake response is still focused on immediate humanitarian needs, but acknowledged that in later stages there will be a “need to address some of the issues that are more linked to the political side of the process.”

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