Draft Communiqué From Action Group on Syria
Although Russia continued to oppose language in the Action Group on Syria statement calling for Bashar al-Assad to leave power, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted the changes made at Saturday's meeting in Geneva did not alter that key demand. Al-Monitor's Laura Rozen obtained a draft communiqué, linked below.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday, June 30, downplayed the changes made to the text of a joint statement on what should be done in Syria that was issued by major powers meeting in Geneva.
Russia continued to oppose language in the statement calling for a political transition under which Bashar al-Assad would be required to leave power. But Clinton insisted the edits agreed on at the meeting convened by UN Syria envoy Kofi Annan Saturday did not alter that key demand.
“Assad will still have to go,” Clinton told reporters in Geneva Saturday. "He will never pass the mutual-consent test, given the blood on his hands.”
The plan agreed at the Action Group on Syria meeting calls “for the Assad regime to give way to a new transitional governing body that will have full governance powers,” Clinton said.
