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UN envoy hopes Syria will recover its unity

Geir Pedersen said "it is best to freeze the fighting and move the political process in earnest"

MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen hopes that Syria will recover its unity and calls for conscientious advancement of political process, he said in an interview with TASS.

"We all agree that the conflict has lasted too long and that too many civilians have died. But I’m hopeful that it is possible to negotiate an end to this tragedy and that Syria can re-emerge as one country for all its people," the UN envoy stressed.

"As I said in my most recent briefing to the Security Council, a "no-war-no-peace" scenario must be avoided. It is best to freeze the fighting and move the political process in earnest as it is the only way to restore Syria’s sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity in a way that will have broad buy-in and open the path to a restored and a new Syria. Resolution 2254 contains all the elements that are required for this to happen," Pedersen added.

"This obviously would require support from a united international community, and here Russia is key," he concluded.