UN Envoy for Syria has no fixed date for credible inter-Syrian talks

NEW YORK, June 29 (KUNA) -- UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced Wednesday that he had no fixed date for the resumption of the intra-Syrian talks, hoping for a "critical and sufficient" map that will push the issue forward.
Leaving the closed consultations of the UN Security Council, UN Special Envoy told journalists the up-coming round of talks should be "particularly well prepared." He referred in his comments to the other two talks that took place describing its outcomes to be "astonishing." The UN mediator said he is holding the talks in order to make sure that the consultations among the co-chairs and others will result in a possibility of moving forward.
As the target date of August 1st for the implementation of a political transition process in Syria is approaching, the UN official called the parties to compromise by this date.
De Mistura told the press that while they are talking about the upcoming talks, there are a lot of "discreet diplomacy" taking place, confirming his departure to Washington DC tomorrow.
Affirming that a political transition is a priority in this case, De Mistura said that they can have a conference in the sake of having a conference anytime, yet he stressed that one of the UN's strength is the "convening power," and they are working with that.
He also spoke of the importance of the upcoming UN General Assembly and all the activities that comes with it, since it will be the last for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, as well as the last for US President Barack Obama.
The UN official called the stakeholders to come together with a feeling of urgency and work on some ideas on how to reach their differences.
Last week, De Mistura said that the Inter-Syrian talks are linked to the humanitarian process, as well as the improvement on the cessation of hostilities.
He frankly said the talks are particularly linked to finding a minimum critical mass particularly based on the discussion between the two co-chairs, which we are stimulating and facilitating but needs to get more concrete. (end) mao.ibi