UN Envoy Meets Sharaa, Urges ‘Credible and Inclusive’ Transition in Syria

UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen meets with head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria in this handout released on December 15, 2024. (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen meets with head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria in this handout released on December 15, 2024. (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
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UN Envoy Meets Sharaa, Urges ‘Credible and Inclusive’ Transition in Syria

UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen meets with head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria in this handout released on December 15, 2024. (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen meets with head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Syria's de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus, Syria in this handout released on December 15, 2024. (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)

The United Nations told the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group which toppled Bashar al-Assad that Syria must have a "credible and inclusive" transition.

The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen who arrived in Damascus on Sunday, has met Ahmad al-Sharaa, previously known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, Pedersen's office said Monday in a statement.

He also met interim prime minister Mohammed al-Bashir, it said.

Pedersen met them after Saturday's international meeting on Syria in Jordan, and stressed "the need for a credible and inclusive Syrian-owned and led political transition based on the principles of United Nations Security Council resolution 2254 (2015)".

The UN envoy also underlined "the intention of the United Nations to render all assistance to the Syrian people" and was briefed on their "challenges and priorities", the statement added.

"The Special Envoy stressed the intention of the United Nations to render all assistance to the Syrian people," it continued.

It said Pedersen had several engagements planned in the days ahead, but did not elaborate.

Assad was toppled by a lightning 11-day opposition offensive that swept down from northwest Syria, with fighters entering the capital on December 8.

Abandoned by his Russian and Iranian backers, Assad fled into exile in Moscow, bring to an end five decades of abuses by his family.

The HTS group that led his overthrow is a former branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria, and the United States and other Western governments still classify it as a "terrorist" group.

Several countries including the United States and Britain have said they have already made contact with Sharaa.



Sudan’s Burhan Shakes up Army, Tightens Control

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and his new senior officers. (Facebook)
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and his new senior officers. (Facebook)
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Sudan’s Burhan Shakes up Army, Tightens Control

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and his new senior officers. (Facebook)
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (C) and his new senior officers. (Facebook)

Sudan's army chief appointed a raft of new senior officers on Monday in a reshuffle that strengthened his hold on the military as he consolidates control of central and eastern regions and fights fierce battles in the west.

Sudan's army, which controls the government, is fighting a more than two-year civil war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, its former partners in power, that has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan made new appointments to the Joint Chiefs of Staff a day after announcing the retirement of several long-serving officers, some of whom have gained a measure of fame over the past two years.

Burhan, who serves as Sudan's internationally recognized head of state, kept the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mohamed Othman al-Hussein, but appointed a new inspector general and a new head of the air force.

Another decree from Burhan on Sunday brought all the other armed groups fighting alongside the army - including former Darfur rebels, Islamist brigades, civilians who joined the war effort and tribal militias - under his control.

Sudanese politicians praised the decision, saying it would prevent the development of other centres of power in the military, and potentially the future formation of other parallel forces like the RSF.

The RSF has its roots in militias armed by the military in the early 2000s to fight in Darfur. It was allowed to develop parallel structures and supply lines.

The reshuffle comes a week after Burhan met US senior Africa adviser Massad Boulos in Switzerland, where issues including a transition to civilian rule were discussed, government sources said.

The war erupted in April 2023 when the army and the RSF clashed over plans to integrate their forces.

The RSF made quick gains in central Sudan, including the capital Khartoum, but the army pushed them westward this year, leading to an intensification in fighting in al-Fashir in Darfur.