The Secretary-General’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, arrived there a week after President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTC).
Answering questions from the press upon arrival, Mr. Pedersen noted the “tremendous” changes since the fall of the Assad regime.
“This change itself creates great hopes, but we all know that many challenges still lie ahead. So we have to do it right from the beginning,” he said.
He said it is necessary to launch a political process that includes all Syrians and “must clearly be led by Syrians themselves.”
Read the full transcript of the press meet This.
Services, public order and security
The second challenge, he said, is ensuring that state institutions are functioning, for which service delivery, public order and security are “extremely important”.
On the humanitarian crisis, he said it was necessary to ensure that Syria receives “immediate increased humanitarian assistance” for its people and all refugees who wish to return.
“This is extremely important,” he emphasized.
Syrians celebrated the fall of the Assad regime last week, gathering in Umayyad Square in the capital Damascus.
End impunity and restart the economy
On the issue of economic recovery, he said “we need to ensure that this issue is resolved quickly”.
“We hope the sanctions will be ended quickly so that we can really see the rally around rebuilding Syria.”
He also said that justice needs to be served. He said perpetrators of crimes across the country must be held accountable.
“We have to make sure that this happens through a credible justice system and that we don’t see any retaliation,” Mr. Pedersen said.
