The special United Nations envoys to each of Syria and Libya presented on Thursday their findings on the war-torn countries before a meeting for Arab foreign ministers in Riyadh.
Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura stressed the need for the formation of an independent and transparent probe into Saturday’s chemical attack in the town of Douma, which left at least 40 people dead.
He demanded that such attacks should be strongly confronted, while calling on various parties involved in the crisis to avert military confrontations and instead focus on the political solution.
There can be no other alternative to the political solution, he declared before the ministers, who were meeting in Riyadh ahead of Sunday’s Arab summit in Dammam.
“The political process in Syria should follow a specific timetable. The proposed constitutional council to draft a new constitution for the country should include representatives from the regime, opposition and civil society groups as part of the Geneva peace negotiations,” continued de Mistura.
For his part, Libya envoy Ghassan Salameh delivered a presentation on the current situation in the country, saying that the UN plan to resolve the crisis was moving forward on the right track, but not at the pace he was hoping for.
He warned that some sides in the country “are creative at creating obstacles to hinder this plan.”
He told the foreign ministers that Libya needs a new constitution, whose draft was approved in June 2017.
The draft should now be put up for a referendum, he explained, demanding the concerned Libyan authorities to organize the vote.
