Ban Ki-moon urges political solution for Syrian conflict

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the need to find a political solution to the ongoing conflict in Syria as well as to renew momentum for the holding of an international conference to achieve that goal, as he discussed the crisis with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The two men discussed the escalating humanitarian crisis and the disconcerting rise in sectarian violence in Syria over a working dinner in New York last night, according to a read-out provided by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.

In June, discussions about the international conference were held in Geneva with participation from senior United States, Russian and UN officials, led by the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States, Lakhdar Brahimi.

Still not scheduled, the goal of such a conference would to be to achieve a political solution to the conflict in Syria through a comprehensive agreement between the Government and the opposition for the full implementation of the Geneva communiqué of 30 June 2012.