Date: Oct 25, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Syria to U.N. envoy: Stay out of constitution DAMASCUS: Syria’s top diplomat told the outgoing U.N. envoy Wednesday to stay out of matters concerning the country’s constitution, state media reported, while the U.N. official said they had “a very intense exchange of opinions.” Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem reportedly told U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura that the constitution is a “sovereign” matter and that Damascus will not allow any foreign intervention or meddling in it. The remarks were carried by the state-run SANA news agency after the two met in Damascus. De Mistura announced he would resign for personal reasons earlier this month after years of mediating peace talks that led nowhere. But he said he hoped to broker an agreement on advancing a new constitution for Syria before stepping down next month. The opposition has called for a new constitution that would allow for a political transition away from the Assad family’s decades of rule. But after a string of major victories, the government shows little interest in making any concessions. “During the meeting we had a very frank, a very intense exchange of opinions concerning the constitutional committee and the political process in general,” de Mistura told reporters after the meeting. He said he will not elaborate because he still has to brief the U.N. secretary-general and the Security Council. A statement released by de Mistura’s office later said the U.N. envoy will be engaging in “intensive further consultations” to explore the possibility of convening a Syrian constitutional committee. Moallem was quoted by SANA as saying that “the constitution and everything related to it are purely a sovereign affair that is decided by the Syrian people without any foreign intervention.” De Mistura told Security Council members last week that while there is agreement on the 50-member government and opposition delegations for the drafting committee. The government objects to a third 50-member delegation that the U.N. put together representing Syrian experts, civil society, independents, tribal leaders and women. De Mistura has been trying since February to set up a constitutional committee as a key step toward elections and a political settlement to the more than 7-year-old conflict, which has killed some 400,000 people. U.N.-led efforts at halting the violence in Syria have brought little respite and have been overshadowed by a diplomatic track led by regime allies Russia, Iran and Turkey. Nine rounds of U.N.-brokered talks in Geneva have never led to direct meetings between the warring sides and the prospects of a peace deal looks increasingly unlikely. Earlier this year, Moscow invited representatives of Syria’s regime and opposition to the Russian resort town of Sochi and proposed creating a committee to revise the constitution. De Mistura had hoped the committee would be ready before the fall, but agreeing on its makeup has taken longer than expected. The committee is expected to include 150 members: 50 chosen by Damascus, 50 by the opposition and the final 50 by de Mistura.