NEW YORK—Ahead of United Nations efforts for a political transition in Syria by August, the organization’s special envoy said that the next round of peace talks between various rebel groups and the government in Damascus must be well prepared to ensure the set is goal met. “Bottom line, I’m still aiming – we are aiming at – within July, but not at any cost and not without guarantees,” UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told reporters in New York on Wednesday following consultations with the Security Council. De Mistura said that he was aiming at August “as the period where we should be seeing something concrete. So that in September we take stock.” The UN special envoy who visited Washington DC on Thursday said a great deal of diplomacy was going on issue of the Syria peace talks, including his own recent visit to the Russian city of St. Petersburg. “Everyone agrees that political transition is a priority and no one is denying it,” de Mistura said, according to a UN press release. “So let’s talk about it in August.” De Mistura said that the previous rounds of peace talks had achieved some results such as a ceasefire between the Syrian government and opposition forces—albeit fragile—adding that the third round must be well prepared. “In other words, we learned that when you convene a conference or talks or intra-Syrian talks, you want to make sure that it has good chances of success. Having just a conference for the sake of a conference, we can do that any time but that’s not the purpose,” he said. De Mistura maintained parallel to the push for peace talks his organization has kept it efforts to deliver aid to besieged Syrian cities by land and through airdrops, saying that all 18 besieged towns were reached with food and medical supplies. “It’s quite a landmark. It’s not enough.” The UN said that on the day of the Security Council consultations on Syria, “An inter-agency humanitarian convoy delivered assistance to the besieged towns of Arbin and Zamalka in rural Damascus. The convoy included water, sanitation and hygiene items, as well as food, nutrition, education, health and other emergency supplies for 20,000 Syrian men, women and children in need.” Farhan Haq, UN Deputy Spokesperson said that “Access cannot just be provided once. We continue to call for sustained access to these locations,” According to Haq, the deliveries included food, water, sanitation and hygiene items, nutrition, education, health and other emergency supplies for 12,500 people. The organization said that since the start of 2016, “more than 941,000 people – including more than 354,000 people in all besieged locations – have been reached with assistance through inter-agency operations, many of them more than once.”
