UNITED NATIONS, September 29 (RIA Novosti) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon has met with the leader of Syria’s main opposition group, Ahmad Jarba, and asked him to agree with other opposition forces to select a person who would represent the opposition at the upcoming Geneva conference in November, the UN has reported.
Jarba leads the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces in Syria.
“The Secretary-General welcomed Mr. al-Jarba's commitment to send a delegation to the Geneva Conference, and urged the National Coalition to reach out to other opposition groups and agree on a representative and united delegation,” the UN reported on its website Saturday following the meeting.
“He stressed the paramount importance of embarking on serious dialogue as soon as possible, as well as the need to ensure accountability for war crimes,” the statement said.
Ban said Friday the United Nations aims to hold an international peace conference on Syria in mid-November. Both the Syrian government and opposition are invited to take part.
More than 100,000 people have died in Syria over two years of fighting between government and opposition forces, according to UN estimates.
The UN Security Council unanimously passed a draft resolution on Friday, imposing binding obligations on the Syrian government to eliminate its chemical weapons program for the first time since unrest began there in March 2011.
