The Constitutional Committee negotiations end in a dismal failure, and analysts see them as a waste of time

“Disappointing”, a word described by the UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, the fifth round of meetings of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva, which ended on Friday without achieving any progress.

It reviewed several statements during the fifth round by the two delegations of the opposition and the Assad regime, anticipating the failure of the Constitutional Committee’s work, after everyone had proven the latter’s delegation’s procrastination in the meetings.

The Syrians were not optimistic about the success of the committee and the chances of reaching a political solution, while others expressed their concerns that the work of the constitutional committee would be to rehabilitate the Assad regime without implementing UN Security Council resolutions.

The spokesman for the Syrian negotiating committee, Yahya Al-Aridi, told Fresh Online: “The main reason for the failure of the fifth round of the constitution drafting committee meetings is due to the obstruction of the Assad regime’s delegation and its constant intransigence to discuss the proposals presented by the delegation of the Syrian opposition.”

Al-Aridi adds that the new round was marked by an agreement on the agenda before it was held, and it was agreed to discuss the drafting of the constitution and to enter the core of the political process, but the intransigence of the Assad regime’s delegation and its continued positioning of obstacles led to the failure of the fifth round.

Al-Aridi pointed out that the Assad regime’s delegation is still insisting on discussing some topics without others that are “combating terrorism” and stressing the need for what he calls the occupation forces to leave the Syrian lands, forgetting that it is the main reason for dividing the country and making it a foothold and an arena for competition between active and influential countries.

Journalist and political analyst Abdul Karim al-Omar says in an interview with Fresh Online: “It is not the first time that the Assad regime obstructs any political entitlement, as it always seeks to put obstacles and empty arguments in order to procrastinate and gain more time to achieve its goals of controlling new areas outside its control.”

Al-Omar believes that there is a desire on the part of the supporters of the Assad regime to thwart any negotiations until their interests are achieved in the first place. He adds: “There is no international desire to find a permanent political solution, but rather a desire to prolong the crisis until some of the active countries achieve their interests.”

“Al-Omar” believed that things are heading towards more “stalling in place”, especially with no desire to end the suffering of the Syrian people grieving by the brutality of the Assad regime.

The head of the Syrian negotiating committee, Anas Al-Abdeh, said in a Facebook post that the Assad regime is still obstructing the negotiations of the Constitutional Committee in order to waste time, and he also expressed his disappointment with the United Nations, which did not mention that the Assad regime is responsible for the failure of the fifth round.

For his part, political analyst Samer Khliwi, in his interview with Fresh Online, believes that the Assad regime and its successor Russia are trying to circumvent international decisions on Syria by continuing and stalling the work of the Constitutional Committee and the negotiations in Geneva.

Khliwi added that there are Russian attempts to rehabilitate the Assad regime again through the upcoming presidential elections, through its efforts to circumvent the opposition and Resolution 2254, which provides for the formation of a transitional governing body and the initiation of preparing and drafting the constitution
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Regarding the American role, Khliwi emphasized that the American role has not been clear so far with regard to Syria and its desire to find a political solution, and this is due to the fact that the new administration is working to arrange its priorities in the region.

The Constitutional Committee is one of the outcomes of the “Sochi” conference held by Russia and Turkey in early 2018, which was relied upon in drafting a new constitution for Syria, and the United Nations considers it the only way to reach a political solution.

“We need to get out of the stalemate, and the only way is for the Syrians to unite,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at a press conference.

A new failure hoped for in the Constitutional Committee negotiations, there is nothing new to reach any breakthrough in terms of drafting the constitution, in light of the worsening economic and humanitarian conditions, and widespread unemployment and poverty.

It is noteworthy that the work of the Constitutional Committee was suspended for several months, only to resume on August 24th, without achieving any progress despite agreement on a prior agenda.

Prepared by Hamzah Al-Abdullah