Un's Syria Envoy Outlines New Peace Plan

The UN's special envoy to Syria has described next month's planned meetings with the parties involved in the civil war as a "stress test" of their willingness to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.



Staffan de Mistura, who previously headed UN missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, briefed the Security Council on Friday on the enormity of his task.



"Despite the lack of progress so far, we remain convinced about refocusing efforts to revive a political process," he told reporters at a later press conference.



He added: "There is no excuse for us to wait… The immensity of the human suffering obliges us to seek out even the remotest possibility of some type of change."



The four-year conflict between regime forces and various rebel groups has seen more than 220,000 people killed and an estimated 7.6 million displaced.



The veteran Italian diplomat said he would hold meetings in early May in Geneva with Syrian parties as well as regional and world powers to explore the possibility of peace.



"This is not a conference, this is not a Geneva III, this is a series of consultations, one to one, between myself, my team, and each delegation from each country, but also each delegation from the Syrian environment, all of them," he said, referring to the failed talks three years ago that set out guidelines for peace and political change in Syria.



Asked if Iran would be invited to the talks, he said Tehran "is a major player in the region and has influence in Syria" and would be asked to attend.



The new push for diplomacy would reveal any change in the parties' approach to the conflict following the adoption of the Geneva Communique, de Mistura said.



The 2012 communique calls for an immediate end to fighting and the formation of a transitional government.



De Mistura, appointed in July last year, said a plan he announced in October for establishing a "freeze" zone in Aleppo where fighting would be stopped "has not worked so far."



He said the plan was still on the table but would not be easy to implement.



The militant Daesh group and Syria's al-Nusra Front will not be invited to the talks.



www.aa.com.tr/en - New York