The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: UN Special Envoy for Syria-Geir Pedersen
Syria’s warring parties will resume talks in Geneva, says UN envoy
Syria’s opposing parties have agreed to resume talks in Geneva over their war-torn country as soon as travel restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic allow, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen said on Tuesday.
“As soon as the pandemic situation allows, they have agreed to come to Geneva, and as I said, they have agreed on an agenda for the next meeting,” Mr. Pedersen told journalists via videoconference from Oslo, without setting a date.
To date, the spread of the new coronavirus has been limited, with most cases in Government-controlled areas and no cases reported in the last opposition-held areas in the northwest.
“In terms of COVID itself, so far the official case count in Syria is very low; it’s 64 and there is of course great relief that the numbers are not a lot worse when it comes to Syria,” Mr. Pedersen said. “But, at the same time, this is also what I’m hearing from Syrians when I’m talking to them, there is of course a risk of a wider spread that is ever-present, so there is no cause for complacency.”
Dismissing the possibility of holding a virtual meeting between delegates who have previously participated in UN-led Constitutional Committee discussions in the Swiss city, the negotiator highlighted fears that a fragile truce in Syria could disintegrate at any moment.
“There is a relative calm in Idlib, the ceasefire that Turkey and Russia entered into in the beginning of March is still by and large holding,” he said, echoing comments delivered on Monday to the Security Council in New York.
“And I have said that this is indeed good news, but I’ve also warned that hostilities could resume and that would have devastating consequences of course not only in Idlib, but in many other parts of Syria as well.”
Ordinary Syrians remained deeply concerned about the plight of their country, the UN official explained, citing anxiety over food shortages and disappointment at the lack of progress on reaching a political agreement to stop widespread, ongoing violence.
These developments include “mutual attempts at cross-line offensives”, he told the Security Council, “most notably by the extremist wa-Harid al-Mu’minin operations room. A number of Syrian soldiers were killed during this attack. This prompted an escalation, including increased artillery strikes on areas inside Idlib, as well as rocket fire towards Hmeimim airbase in Latakia, before the episode was contained.”
Elsewhere, “mutual shelling” incidents have been reported along with improvised explosive device attacks around Afrin and the northeast, Mr. Pedersen earlier told the Security Council, along with “targeted killings and a military build-up and clashes in the southwest”, further reports of Israeli airstrikes in Deir-ez-Zor and Aleppo and evidence of an ISIL “resurgence” in the east.
“So obviously, (it’s) very important that the US and Russia continue to work together,” he told journalists on Tuesday. “They’ve done it before with success, without the US-Russia cooperation we would never have had Security Council resolution 2254. And so, my appeal is for them to strengthen that cooperation and to move on and to support the process.”
Underscoring the profound apprehension and worry among many Syrians about the fate of detainees, abductees and missing persons since the country descended into civil war more than nine years ago, Mr. Pedersen called for their release, as part of confidence-building measures between the warring parties.
“I said have stressed again and again that the time has come now for more meaningful actions on all of these issues, you know, as I said on detainees, abductees and indeed also on missing persons.”
UN-brokered talks between the Syrian Government, opposition forces and civil society as part of the Constitutional Committee process began last November.
Should they happen, the new talks would bring together the smaller Constitutional Committee body for the third time; it comprises 15 members from the Government, the opposition and civil society. The full Constitution Committee numbers 150 participants, 50 from each delegation.
- Wide shot: exterior, UN Geneva flag alley.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “In terms of COVID itself, so far the official case count in Syria is very low; it’s 64 and there is of course great relief that the numbers are not a lot worse when it comes to Syria. But, at the same time, this is also what I’m hearing from Syrians when I’m talking to them, there is of course a risk of a wider spread that is ever-present, so there is no cause for complacency.”
- Wide shot: UN Geneva main entrance, raised angle.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “There is a relative calm in Idlib, the ceasefire that Turkey and Russia entered into in the beginning of March is still by and large holding. And I have said that this is indeed good news, but I’ve also warned that hostilities could resume and that would have devastating consequences of course not only in Idlib, but in many other parts of Syria as well.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva flag alley, UN Palais des Nations entrance with UN lettering and logo.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “So obviously, (it’s) very important that the US and Russia continue to work together; as I said, they’ve done it before with success, without the US-Russia cooperation we would never have had Security Council resolution 2254. And so my appeal is for them to strengthen that cooperation and to move on and to support the process.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva Palais des Nations building with UN lettering and UN logo.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “As soon as the pandemic situation allows, they have agreed to come to Geneva, and as I said, they have agreed on an agenda for the next meeting.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva flag alley.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “I said have stressed again and again that the time has come now for more meaningful actions on all of these issues, you know, as I said on detainees, abductees and indeed also on missing persons.”
- Wide shot: UN Geneva Palais des Nations building with UN flag flying.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Today marks the grim milestone of 1,000 days since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on Ukraine. Our Office has verified that at least 12,162 civilians have been killed since 24 February 2022, among them 659 children. At least another 26,919 civilians have been injured,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurance told the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
With COP29 in Baku now in its second - and final - week, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has reiterated his call for urgent human rights-based climate action.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNIFIL , UNICEF , WHO
Lebanon: Increased violence along Blue Line and ‘horrific new normal’ for children
In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers have witnessed “shocking” destruction of villages along the Blue Line and ever-deeper Israeli ground incursions, while the situation of children across the country is becoming increasingly desperate, the UN said on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, confirmed on Monday that a large convoy of humanitarian aid was looted inside Gaza at the weekend, amid a near-total a breakdown in law and order and harassment of the agency’s staff by Israeli soldiers.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country’s energy infrastructure is on the brink and drones terrify communities on the front line, the UN’s top aid official in the country said on Friday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Mexican actor, producer and director Diego Luna took a break from the big screen on Thursday to highlight the dangers faced by journalists in his country and beyond, condemning murders of reporters everywhere as “a scandal”.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: ‘People are losing hope’ as aid access is refused to north, warns UNRWA
Besieged northern Gaza is a place of dead bodies lying in the streets and hospitals running out of blood packs – a situation that’s “nothing short of catastrophic”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence & Ajith Sunghay, Head of UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, on Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Sudan’s displaced have endured “unimaginable suffering” in their search for shelter from the country’s ongoing war, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘Exceptional achievement’: Humanitarians reach over 105,000 with polio vaccine in north Gaza
Despite ongoing attacks and access challenges, humanitarians have managed to inoculate over 105,000 children in north Gaza with the second and final dose of the oral polio vaccine, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
UN aid teams prepared to enter northern Gaza at the weekend to resume a mass polio vaccination campaign, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Lebanon: widescale displacement continues amid ongoing bombing
In south and east Lebanon civilians continue to face airstrikes, mass forced displacement and deprivation as the fight between Israel and Hezbollah militia goes on against the backdrop of war in Gaza.
In recent days, an estimated 50,000 people have left Baalbek heading mostly to areas in the north of the Bekaa Valley, said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office (OCHA).