Peace envoy urges 'real' change in Syria
December 28, 2012  02:09
International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi called today for "real change" and a transitional government in Syria but the armed opposition swiftly retorted that that could not include President Bashar al-Assad or his top lieutenants.

The envoy unveiled his initiative in Damascus as Russia, the Syrian regime's most powerful ally, denied the existence of a joint peace plan with the United States, amid a flurry of year-end diplomatic activity to try to end the bloody 21-month conflict.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted after talks with a Syrian delegation that the only alternative to a negotiated solution was "bloody chaos." 

"Change should not be cosmetic; the Syrian people need and require real change, and everyone understands what that means," the UN-Arab League envoy said on the fifth and final day of his latest peace mission to Syria.

"We need to form a government with all powers... which assumes power during a period of transition. That transition period will end with elections," Brahimi said. 
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