Following a meeting with the Syrian opposition's Higher Negotiations Committee (HNC) in the Swiss city on Wednesday, Staffan de Mistura fixed February 25 as the date for resuming talks.
"This is not the end and not the failure for the talks. They both came and they both stayed - and both sides insisted on a political process," he said, referring to the government and opposition delegations.
Riyad Hijab, the head of the HNC, joined the opposition team in Geneva on Wednesday as they met de Mistura.
The meetings are part of a process outlined in a UN resolution last month that envisages an 18-month timetable for a political transition, including the drafting of a new constitution and elections.
Farah Atassi, an HNC member, told Al Jazeera the Syrian people are being targeted through increased violence in the country amid the talks in Switzerland.
"We are being targeted on the ground in Syria, politically and through the media," she said.
"We came here to end the suffering of the Syrian people. Our presence here is a message to the international community: We will not back down from our demands. We call on the friends of Syria to pressure the Syrian government and Russia to end their air strikes before any negotiations take place."
Quoting information from the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), the opposition accused President Bashar al-Assad's government and Russia of killing at least 300 civilians since the launch of the so-called Geneva III conference on January 29.
De Mistura met a delegation from the Assad government on Tuesday, one day after meeting HNC representatives...
aljazeera.com
3/2/16
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UN peace talks falter as Syrian war rages on...
ReplyDeleteThe United Nations on Wednesday struggled to save peace talks aimed at stopping nearly five years of bloody civil war in Syria as government forces seized key territory near the northern city of Aleppo.
The UN special envoy for Syria announced that the indirect negotiations in Geneva were on a "temporary pause" until February 25.
"There's more work to be done," Staffan de Mistura, who announced talks were officially underway two days ago, told reporters.
The halt came as Syrian army forces broke through rebel defences to reach two Shi’ite villages in Aleppo province. Rebels said the breakthrough came after hundreds of bombing raids by Russian warplanes.....france24.com
Syria says Saudi, Qatar, Turkey told opposition to quit Geneva talks...
ReplyDeleteThe head of the Syrian government's delegation on Wednesday accused the opposition of wanting to withdraw from peace talks under pressure from regional powers, and the United Nations of suspending the talks until Feb. 25 to avoid such a walk-out.
Bashar Ja'afari, Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, who leads the Damascus delegation, told reporters in Geneva: "We knew few hours ago the Riyadh (opposition) wanted to withdraw from the talks and that's why Mr. De Mistura's announcement came as a political coverage of the decision to withdraw.
"We consider that the style used by the Special Envoy to justify the withdrawal of Riyadh delegation under instructions from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey was not subjective. It didn't say the truth as it was," he said, speaking before going into talks with UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura.
REUTERS