UN says still negotiating with Syria on chemical weapons mission

Prominent Syrian opposition figures are presenting a plan for a political transition should President Bashar Assad's government fall.           

The report by about 300 activists, including military leaders and members of the main opposition group, calls for the disarmament of militias and the restructuring of security services.            

Under the plan, a new national assembly would draft a constitution based on an earlier one written in 1950. The final document would then go to a referendum.                        

The activists envision a government with both a president and a parliament to offer checks and balances, and recommend creating an independent judiciary.                        

The road map to be released Wednesday in Istanbul comes as the Assad government has consolidated control over central Syria and around the capital, Damascus.             

Russia:         

Meanwhile, a Russian diplomat said Russia wants a Syria peace conference to be held as soon as possible but it is unlikely to go ahead before October because there is a busy diplomatic schedule before then.                     

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said more talks were expected at the end of August on preparing the so-called Geneva-2 conference, aimed at bringing Syrian rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's government together.           

"The peace conference is unlikely to happen in September because there are different events, including the 'ministerial week' at the UN General Assembly," Gatilov told Interfax news agency.             

Russian and US officials agreed last week that the long-delayed conference should take place as soon as possible, but offered no concrete plan to bring the warring sides to the table.                       
UN Arab League peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who held talks with senior US and Russian officials in Geneva, has ruled out a peace conference before August.          

Gatilov also said Russia was still keen on including Iran in the talks, a proposal that Washington has not supported.             

Syria's Western-backed rebels have been clamoring for the United States to make good on promises to provide weapons. But the Obama administration has been slow to act because of concerns that American arms could find their way to al-Qaeda-linked fighters.            

UN Chemical Investigators:             

UN chemical weapons investigators are ready to visit Syria to investigate the use of chemical weapons, but a deal has yet to be reached with the Syrian government after two weeks of talks on safety assurances for the team, the United Nations said on Tuesday.                         

"Once the government of Syria confirms its acceptance of the modalities, the mission will depart without delay," the United Nations said in a statement.
              
It has been nearly two weeks since the United Nations said the Syrian government had agreed to let a team of experts travel to three sites where chemical weapons are reported to have been used. One, Khan al-Assal in Aleppo, is where the Syrian government says rebels used chemical weapons in March.
              
The other two locations to be visited have not yet been identified. The United Nations said it has received 13 reports of possible chemical weapons use - one from Syria's government and the rest mainly from Britain, France and the United States.                         

The Syrian government and the opposition have accused each other of using chemical weapons, and both have denied it.               

The U.N. inquiry, led by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, will only try to establish whether chemical weapons were used, not who used them. His team is made up of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the World Health Organization.   


REUTERS/AP