Staffan de Mistura "will travel very soon to Gaziantep (in Turkey) to discuss his plan with key rebel groups from Aleppo," Juliette Touma told AFP. She did not specify when exactly the talks would place.
De Mistura has been pushing efforts for local ceasefires in parts of Syria to lay the groundwork for peace talks to resolve the country's devastating civil war.
He announced his plan to press for what he called a "freeze" in fighting in late October, after years of failed efforts to negotiate an end to the war.
President Bashar al-Assad has said he is willing to discuss the plan and Aleppo, which has been divided into rebel- and regime-held territory since July 2012, has been cited as a possible starting point.
Touma said that after the talks in Gaziantep, De Mistura would travel to Istanbul to follow up on political efforts with opposition members.
AFP
[hurriyetdailynews.com]
7/12/14
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Related:
UN envoy holds high-level talks with Syrian officials on plan to ‘freeze’ Aleppo conflict
Syria seeks freezing battles in Aleppo (to create an environment whereby humanitarian aid)
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UN envoy visits Syria for Aleppo truce talks ...
ReplyDeleteA senior UN official arrived in Syria on Saturday (Dec 13) for talks on a plan to suspend fighting between government and rebel forces in the country's second city Aleppo.
Ramzi Ezzedine Ramzi, deputy to the UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is to hold a series of meetings in Damascus, their spokeswoman Juliette Touma told AFP via the Internet.
At the start of the week, De Mistura held what Touma termed "constructive" talks on Aleppo with rebel groups in Gaziantep, Turkey.
In late October, he had announced a plan for a "freeze" in fighting, following a series of failed international efforts to negotiate an end to the Syrian conflict, which erupted in March 2011. He has since said the northern city of Aleppo is a "good candidate" for the bid.
The city has been divided between regime control in the west and rebels in the east since mid-2012.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has called for rebels to hand over their heavy weapons and allow the return of local administration officials to Aleppo under any deal. For their part, the rebels want guarantees of an effective freeze on the ground and that government forces are not redeployed from Aleppo to the flashpoint Eastern Ghouta region near Damascus.
- AFP/ec
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/un-envoy-visits-syria-for/1527872.html
13/12/14