Syria conference should be held ‘as soon as possible,’ Ban says during visit to Russia

Stressing that a political solution is the only way to end the Syria crisis, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that an international conference proposed by Russia and the United States should be held as soon as possible so as not to lose momentum.

“It is my sincere hope that we can convene an international conference on Syria as soon as possible to help parties come to the negotiating table,” Mr. Ban said at a joint press conference in Sochi with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Last week, following talks in Moscow between Mr. Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry, the two countries announced they would work together to achieve a political solution to the Syria crisis, and agreed to convene an international conference aimed at achieving this goal.

“I thanked the Foreign Minister for working with US Secretary of State Kerry on finding a way forward,” said Mr. Ban. “Now our challenge is to build on the momentum that Foreign Minister Lavrov and Secretary Kerry have helped to generate.”

Note EU-Digest: a political solution to the crises is the only way out of this mess. If President Assad  can convince hardliners he inherited from his father to become less autocratic and more democratic he could probably succeed in holding the country together under his leadership. The alternative is total chaos, risk of regional conflict, and Syria splitting up into several ethnic and religiously dominated regions.

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