UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Outgoing UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Thursday expressed optimism about the prospects of a political solution in Syria although he regretted that more could have been done.
"Ultimately the question will be -- now is the time to look at it even more so: will the peace be won? We believe it should and it can. And will it be sustainable? We believe it can and it should. That is why a real political process is required," he told the Security Council in his last briefing.
De Mistura, after more than four years as UN special envoy for Syria, steps down by the end of the year. He will be replaced by Geir Pedersen of Norway.
"So there is real progress. We nearly have a list (for the constitutional committee). The rules of procedure became a little clearer. But we need to go that extra mile (before the establishment of the constitutional committee)," he said.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey -- guarantors of the Astana process for Syria -- came up with 50 names as civil society representatives for the committee -- the so-called Middle Third list, drawing partly from de Mistura's previous suggestions.
But the United Nations assessed that "we would not feel totally comfortable yet in giving the UN stamp of legitimacy to all of the 50 names as meeting the necessary criteria of credibility and balance -- hence our suggestion: the need for going an extra mile," he told the Security Council.
De Mistura's own Middle Third list was rejected by the Syrian government.
Under an intra-Syrian agreement reached at Sochi, Russia, in January 2018, the constitutional committee is to be composed of representatives of the Syrian government, the opposition and civil society representatives -- each with 50 members.
