Statement by UN Special Envoy for Syria

Media Statement by the Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria,
Mr. Staffan de Mistura
Geneva, 10 September 2016

The United Nations welcomes the understanding announced today by H.E. Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation and H.E. John Kerry, Secretary of State of the United States of America, regarding reinstating the Cessation of Hostilities in Syria so that the parties can return to talks with humanitarian access delivered and clear rules in place for the management of the CoH. We also welcome the fact that the Russian Federation and the United States are prepared to work together to defeat Daesh and Al Nusra front.

The United Nations hopes that the political will that led to this understanding is sustained. It creates a real window of opportunity which all relevant actors in the region and beyond should seize to put the crisis in Syria on a different path and ease the violence and suffering being endured by the Syrian people.

The United Nations stands ready to do whatever it can to support an early restoration of a cessation of hostilities. It also expects that all parties will facilitate UN efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance to the population in need, including in besieged and hard-to-reach areas as per the September UN plan. The UN will continue to exert all efforts to that end. It is vital that real change is felt on the ground by the Syrian people.

The United Nations hopes that the implementation of this understanding will facilitate renewed efforts to reach a Syrian-owned and Syrian-led political settlement of the conflict as called for in the Geneva Communiqué and Security Council resolution 2254 (2015). I will be proceeding to New York in the coming days to consult the Secretary-General ahead of the Ministerial meeting of the Security Council on 21 September, with a view to advancing this objective and discussing a date for the resumption of intra-Syrian talks.

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