Syria ready to discuss inclusive unity government: Ja'afari

Syria's chief negotiator in peace talks with the foreign-backed opposition says Damascus is prepared to discuss the formation of a new inclusive unity government but the future of President Bashar al-Assad remains off limits.

Bashar al-Ja’afari, who also serves as Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, made the remarks in an interview with AFP in Geneva on Tuesday.

"A broader unity government is the only topic of discussion here," Ja’afari said. However, the Syrian ambassador added, “It is not in our jurisdiction, it is not within our prerogatives” to talk about Assad’s fate.

The latest round of indirect UN-brokered negotiations on the Syria crisis began in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 13.

Five days later, however, the main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) suspended its formal participation at the talks in protest at what it called escalating violence in the Arab country.

Ja’afari criticized the opposition’s move as "childish and adolescent behavior."

During the Geneva discussions, Staffan de Mistura, who is the UN special envoy for Syria, floated the idea of President Assad remaining in power in exchange for the opposition's nomination of three Syrian vice presidents.

SS