Time to scrap UN push for Syria committee: US

The United States on Thursday said it was time to scrap a 17-month effort to form a constitutional committee for Syria and come up with other diplomatic initiatives to bring the country closer to peace. The UN drive to set up a committee tasked with drafting a post-war constitution has been bogged down in disagreements with President Bashar al-Assad's government on the makeup of the body. Under the plan, opposition and civil society representatives would take part in the negotiations. US acting Ambassador Jonathan Cohen told the Security Council that progress toward forming the new body remained "out of reach" and that the committee was unlikely to ever be formed. "The time has come for the council to encourage special envoy Pedersen to try other routes to achieving the political solution," Cohen told the council. The UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, told the council that he hoped to finalize details in the near future on the committee, which was first agreed during a conference in Russia in January 2018. The US said Pedersen should instead focus on preparing nationwide elections in which Syrian refugees would be allowed to vote, securing the release of detainees and establishing a nationwide ceasefire. Russian Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said Moscow expected a "breakthrough" soon in the launch of the committee following recent talks between Russian and Syrian officials. France told Pedersen that he should notify the council when all efforts to set up the committee have been exhausted. The Security Council has overseen a string of stalled diplomatic initiatives to end the war in Syria, now in its ninth year. More than 370,000 people have been killed and half of the country's population displaced in the fighting. Backed by Russia and Iran, Assad's forces have regained control of most of the country's territory and set their sights on taking the northwestern Idlib region. The United Nations has been unable to push the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad to agree on the formation of a constitutional committee with the opposition and civil society