DHAKA: Syria’s government will not accept any transition peace plan that excludes president Bashar al-Assad, Syria foreign minister Walid al-Moallem told media.

He spoke on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, a day after the Security Council approved a resolution that obliges Syria’s government to comply with an international plan to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal.

The resolution also endorsed the outcome of the Geneva conference between the government and the opposition in June 2012, which called for the establishment of a transitional government with full executive powers.

The Syrian opposition, which has been embroiled in a bloody conflict with Assad’s forces for two and a half years, has repeatedly said it will not take part in any transition government that includes the president.

The latest statement from al-Moallem could mean that efforts to organise a second meeting of the opposition and the government later this year in Geneva may fail.

‘For the Syrian people, Bashar Assad is the elected president until mid-2014, when presidential elections will be held,’ al-Moallem said.

Other candidates are welcome to run under the country’s constitution, he added, stressing that only the Syrian people can choose their president, not outside governments or the opposition, which is based abroad, Turkish daily Hurriyet publishes this report on Sunday.

BDST: 1915 HRS, SEPT 29, 2013
RoR/Jck