It’s up to parties to continue dialogue: UN envoy

The visiting UN envoy has said the ruling Awami League and Opposition BNP are now responsible for continuing talks now that he has brought them to negotiations.

The United Nations’ first aim was to get the two parties sit for talks, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco said at a crowded press conference on Wednesday.

Solution was still possible, but that must come from two parties, said the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.

“I firmly believe there is a ground for an agreement. Bangladeshi leaders must continue to come together.

“I encouraged both sides to continue their dialogue in the spirit of good will, and compromise,” he continued.

“Bangladeshis expect them to work together constructively to decrease tensions and to find mutually agreeable solutions for free, fair, inclusive and non-violent elections.”

He said he was “very happy” with his Dhaka mission outcomes as two parties engaged in dialogue.

But the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy said it still remained “critical to reduce tensions and to continue to engage in constructive dialogue” to create a congenial atmosphere.

“There are measures that would contribute immensely (to) a call by all sides to end the violence, the release of opposition political leaders, and a mutually satisfactory solution to concerns regarding the elections schedule”.

Fernandez-Taranco would not go into the “specifics” about the outcome of the dialogue and whether the elections that the BNP has declared to boycott would be held on Jan 5.

The UN emissary said in the process of dialogue the parties would find solutions to hold a “free, fair, inclusive and credible” elections and that both parties agreed to hold a third round of dialogue.

Top leaders of the Awami League and BNP have already met twice over the past two days.

He, however, said he strongly believed that a solution to the current deadlock was still possible, “if there is political will, leadership and an attitude of compromise”.

Amid escalating political tensions, Fernandez-Taranco arrived in Dhaka on Friday evening and would leave around 9pm Wednesday.

He will report back to UN chief Ban Ki-moon who called Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier in the day and told her that Bangladesh will hold general elections as per its Constitution.