UN envoy: Syrian president discusses transition

Associated Press

GENEVA

Syrian President Bashar Assad has discussed the possibility of forming a transitional government for his country as proposed by an international conference in Geneva last month, envoy Kofi Annan said Wednesday.

Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, said that during his discussions with Assad in Damascus this week, the Syrian leader proposed someone who could serve as an interlocutor for the regime as it explores ways of forming a transitional government with the opposition.

Activists estimate that 17,000 people have been killed in the Assad regime’s crackdown on a popular uprising that began in March 2011. As the conflict has dragged on, the increasingly armed rebellion appears to be getting more radicalized and violent, complicating the goal of a peaceful resolution or transfer of power.

Annan spoke to reporters in Geneva after a private videoconference session with the U.N. Security Council in New York. The envoy did not identify the person whose name Assad put forward, but said: “He did offer a name, and I indicated that I wanted to know a bit more about that individual. So we are at that stage.”