[ad_1]
Geir Pedersen, former Norwegian diplomat who made his diplomatic weapons 25 years ago in the team that secretly negotiated the Oslo peace accords for the Middle East, has revealed to be the next representative of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. to three well-placed diplomatic sources.
The revelation came two days after Staffan de Mistura, a double diplomatic and Italian-Swedish interlocutor, announced to the US Security Council that he would step down at the end of November, leaving a vacant post at one of the jobs. the most ungrateful of diplomacy.
While the UN was looking very early to play a central role in the settlement of the Syrian civil war, the conflict has fallen in recent years to a large extent under the domination of Russia and Iran, which support the military assault of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against the campaign of revolt which is slowing down.
Like the United States, the United States and Europe have become increasingly marginalized diplomatic actors and are reluctant to commit funds for the reconstruction of Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened their own diplomatic path and negotiated a buffer zone last month in Idlib province, one of the last supporters of the rebels.
To complicate matters, the White House pledged last month to maintain a US military presence in Syria to curb Iran's military expansion across the Middle East, a decision that will limit Assad's ability to take action. control of his entire country.
"The UN's hands are tied, because Russia and Iran are determined to keep Assad in power, and the United States is determined to thwart it," said Joshua Landis, director of the Center. # 39; studies on the Middle East of the University of Oklahoma. "How can a guy from the United Nations waltz in the middle of all this and try to collect the pieces?"
After a speech Wednesday before the Security Council, where he announced his resignation, de Mistura told reporters that he was leaving his post after more than four years of work for "purely personal reasons", but that he hoped to dedicate his last month to the creation of a Syrian committee to draft a new constitution. He plans to visit Syria next week to try to defeat the Syrian resistance to this plan.
Pedersen, who is currently Norway's ambassador to China, tops a list of candidates including Nickolay Mladenov, US peace envoy to the Middle East; Jan Kubis, senior US official in Iraq; and a former Algerian foreign minister, Ramtane Lamamra, according to these diplomatic sources.
The Secretary-General, António Guterres, would be in favor of Pedersen, who held senior positions in the United States, including as Special Coordinator for Lebanon, and was appointed Ambassador of Norway to the United Nations . He also has the support of Great Britain, France and the United States. The United Kingdom seems confident that China will support Pedersen, who is making his second visit there. Russia remains the joker.
Jan Egeland, a Norwegian diplomat at the helm of US humanitarian efforts in Syria, told reporters on Thursday that he would also withdraw at the end of November, after three years of presence. The departure of Egeland will facilitate Pedersen's prospects as it is unlikely that the United States will appoint two senior officials from the same country to face an international crisis.
"We have failed more often than we have succeeded," Egeland said, adding that some diplomatic victories had been won, citing a cease-fire pact negotiated between Turkey and Russia, which had blocked a military offensive in Idlib . "We now have five weeks without any air raid. I do not remember such a period for the last three years in Idlib, "he said. "So diplomacy can win even in Syria."
France's ambassador to the United States, François Delattre, also stressed the importance of the United Kingdom's diplomatic role in Syria, stating: "There is no doubt in my mind that the United Kingdom is at center of concern ".
But in many ways, the role of the UN has been overshadowed by the diplomatic efforts of Iran and Russia, which have pursued a military strategy that has consolidated Assad's power.
The United Kingdom was at the center of diplomatic efforts to end the seven-year civil war in Syria since February 2012, when former United Kingdom Secretary-General Kofi Annan had been appointed Special Envoy of the United Kingdom. United Kingdom for Syria. Several months later, Annan set the basic parameters of a political settlement in the Geneva communiqué. He envisioned a political settlement culminating in the creation of a transitional government to draft a new constitution and prepare for elections under UN control.
But Annan resigned weeks later, citing lack of will on the part of Syrians and a lack of diplomatic support for the peace of key powers.
Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister who negotiated historic peace agreements ending the civil war in Lebanon and establishing an Afghan transitional government, also resigned in 2014, declaring to the world powers that the country is not the only country in the world. diplomatic stalemate in Syria was "a failure for us all. . "
