Syria’s UN Envoy: Assad’s Fate ’Excluded’ from Syria Talks

Local Editor

Syria's ambassador to the United Nations said talks about the future of President Bashar al-Assad do not deserve to be responded to.

Bashar Jaafari, who also heads the government's delegation to negotiations that are aimed at finding a solution to the ongoing Syria crisis, was talking Monday to reporters in the Swiss city of Geneva at the start of a second week of talks with UN mediator, Staffan de Mistura.

"President Assad has nothing to do with the Syria-Syria talks," he said, adding that the "talks do not give any indication whatsoever with regard to the issue" of President Assad.

"This is something already excluded," said Jaafari, noting that little progress has been in the latest round of the talks.

Criticizing the slow pace of the negotiations, Jaafari stressed that the armed groups operating in Syria, "remain terrorists," regardless of their names.

Ja'afari emphasized that so far, the other party to the Syria talks has not shown any serious resolve to help with the progress of the negotiations.

He further criticized the International Syria Support Group for failing to provide a list of terrorist groups and said they still do not know which opposition groups they are going to negotiate with.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team