Participants of Astana process need to agree on ceasefire monitoring mechanism - expert

"The most important topic of the Astana process agenda is the establishment of a ceasefire in Syria. It is crucial and was discussed within the previous rounds of the process in January, February, and March... It should be noted that negotiations in Astana complement and serve as pre-talks for the wider Geneva process. Here, in Astana, the talks are focused on a specific issue. In December 2016 a ceasefire was reached here. This agreement has been broken several times - chemical attack, a US missile strike on the government airbase. This is very important," Sanat Kushkembayev said.

According to Kushkembayev, the most important task for the parties of the Astana process is to reach a ceasefire and the develop violations monitoring mechanism. Syria is fragmented into various warring factions. The situation is very complicated, and it is difficult to establish who is responsible for violating the ceasefire, as the parties often blame each other. Therefore, it is necessary to have a monitoring mechanism which all parties would trust. Thus, it could be implemented under the auspices of the United Nations or neutral observers with appropriate mandates.

Sanat Kushkembaev once again stressed that the Astana process focuses on the development of concrete cease-fire monitoring mechanism, rather than political future of Syria.

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan confirmed the participation of the armed Syrian opposition in The Astana process, the fourth round of which is taking place on May 3-4.