Resolution of Syria crisis must not depend on Assad’s fate: UN chief

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should not take center stage in international efforts aimed at resolving the crisis in the Arab state.

“It is unacceptable that the whole Syrian crisis and the solution to the crisis have to be dependent on the fate of one man,” Ban told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday.

The remarks came ahead of a third round of international talks that are set to kick off Friday in New York, where foreign ministers from 17 countries including Iran, Russia, the United States and Saudi Arabia, will explore ways of ending nearly five years of foreign-sponsored militancy in Syria.

The UN chief further pointed to differences over Assad’s political fate among the parties to the talks, saying some countries were “expressing some nuanced positions,” but this issue “will have to be decided later on.”

The first two rounds of such talks were held in the Austrian capital Vienna on October 30 and November 14.

There was consensus among the participants on the need to respect Syria’s national unity and sovereignty, but they remained at loggerheads over Assad’s role.