The United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who is also currently visiting Paris, met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, during which the two discussed the situation in Syria.
The French top diplomat declared, following their meeting, that it was imperative for the UN-brokered talks to focus on the core of the issue, which he claimed was the need for a political transition. “It’s important that negotiations from now focus on what’s at the heart of the issue: political transition, the terms of shifting power during the transition phase, the reform of the Syrian constitutional framework, the preparation of free and fair elections. That’s what’s been fixed by (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 2254 and it’s our roadmap today,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drain declared.
The UN envoy for Syria, however, said the focus should be on ‘de-escalation’, which De Mistura emphasized was what the people of Syria are calling for, while pointing to the Russian-brokered summit in Astana as the place to address ‘a lot of question marks’ that must be answered. “De-escalation, that’s what the people are calling for, that’s what the Syrians are calling for. And Astana, it’s true, led to a de-escalation, we had it, and a remarkable de-escalation but not enough, with a lot of question marks which we hope the next Astana (meeting) will look into. The three countries committed – the Russian Federation, Turkey and Iran, are able, if they so wish, to agree to influence that. And together, we hope that can happen,” UN special Envoy for Syria said.