Geneva: The United Nations-Arab League joint envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday urged that the transitional government should include members of the current government, the opposition and other groups.
The statements comes as the meeting of nine nations in Geneva, aimed at finding a way to end the bloodshed in Syria, ended in a now-familiar division, with Russia and China blocking the rest from calling for Assad’s ouster.
Soon after the meeting, the United States and Russia contradicted each other over what that meant for Assad, who has ruled Syria for 11 years since succeeding his father Hafez and has been condemned internationally for the ferocity of his crackdown on the uprising against him.
According to media reports, the diplomatic developments were interrupted by a particularly bloody day in Syria, as more than 100 people were killed, by one estimate, most of them civilians caught in shelling.
The Action Group, which includes the five permanent Security Council members and four Middle Eastern countries, had considered barring from the proposed unity government those “whose participation would jeopardize stability and reconciliation,” understood to be a reference to President Assad.