GENEVA: The United Nations is no longer using the phrase “political transition” to describe the goals of next week’s Syria peace talks, in a potentially major concession to negotiators representing President Bashar al-Assad.

“Political transition” is a phrase understood by the opposition to mean a removal of Assad or at least an erosion of his powers. But his government has rejected any suggestion that it could be on the table, and at previous peace talks in Geneva his negotiators consistently tried to steer away from it.

Yara Sharif, spokeswoman for UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, initially told a regular UN briefing in Geneva on Friday that the talks, due to start on Feb 23, would address the political transition.

“I think, yes, you can use the word ‘political transition’. It is going to be a focus I guess as it has been in the past,” she said in response to a reporter’s question.

But she later sent an email to clarify her comment.

“This morning at the briefing I was asked about the intra-Syrian negotiations and whether the issue of political transition would be discussed,” she said.

“For clarification purposes, please note that the negotiations will be entirely guided by (UN) Security Council Resolution 2254, which talks specifically about governance, a new constitution and elections in Syria.”

The December 2015 resolution was unanimously adopted as the basis for peace talks, which ran fitfully through the first months of 2016 but never resumed after the end of April.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2017