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Opponents to the regime of Bashar al-Assad or sent from Damascus, the Syrian delegations are currently heading for Geneva, where the first meeting of the UN-sponsored constitutional committee is to be held from October 30th. Displayed objective: write a new Constitution for Syria.
With our correspondent in Geneva, Jérémie Lanche
The first face to face is scheduled for Wednesday. Syrian Special Envoy Geir Pedersen will officially launch talks with the two co-chairs of the Constitutional Committee. Opposition Hadi al Bahra on one side and Damascus envoy Ahmad Kuzbari on the other.
This will be followed by meetings of equal working groups of opposition members, government officials and civil society. All decisions should be by consensus or a 3/4 majority.
A new format, but also limited in its scope in the opinion of the special envoy Geir Pedersen: " The very holding of the constitutional committee is the first political agreement between the Syrian government and the opposition. Of course, we are well aware that the committee alone can not put an end to the conflict in Syria. The committee can, however, show the way forward and act as a trigger for the opening of broader peace negotiations. "
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The exact composition of the delegations is not known. Some names of civil society representatives would still be debating. The United Nations hopes that everything will be settled before the official start of the discussions. They could last several months, with breaks of 1 to 2 weeks between each session. No end date has been set.
And before the start of the meeting, Geir Pedersen talks on Tuesday with the Russian, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers in Geneva.