Agreement on Syria reached in Geneva

The foreign ministers of Russia, China, Britain, France, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League Secretary General Nabil El-Araby, and the secretary of state of the United States attended a meeting on the situation in Syria at the United Nations office in Geneva on Saturday.

The participants of the Geneva meeting agreed that the transitional governing body in Syria “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, and shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent,” Annan said at a press conference after the meeting.

The plan “makes it clear that we have provided guidelines and principles to assist the Syrian parties as they move ahead with the transition,” Annan stated.

However, Moscow and Beijing opposed the wording of the proposal that called for an interim government that excludes those “whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation.”

Annan also called on armed opposition groups and government forces to stop the violence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 28 that the future of the Syrian government should be decided by a “Syrian dialogue by the Syrian people themselves,” adding that Moscow could not support solutions for Syria “dictated from abroad.”

“We support changes which work towards national agreement on all questions of overdue reform,” he stated.

The anti-Syria Western governments have been calling for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, but Russia and China remain strongly opposed to the Western drive to oust Assad.

HSN/PKH/HGL

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