SYRIA PEACE TALKS

8th round ends without progress

GENEVA: The UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Thursday evening that the way Intra-Syrian peace talks proceed will come after he speaks to the Security Council as the eighth round ended Thursday without “real negotiations” taking place, reports Xinhua.

The UN official is expected to leave Geneva to consult in New York with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on further steps, where he will also meet with the UN Security Council next week.

He told a press conference after announcing the end of the new round of the UN-led Geneva peace talks on Syria that the last two weeks of talks had not yielded the intended results despite great efforts, which he described as a “missed golden opportunity”.

“Though a lot of efforts by my whole team have been made, day and night, with all sorts of creative formulas, we only have bilateral discussions with both parties, we did not have real negotiations,” de Mistura said.

The UN envoy said that both the government side and the opposition group had accused each other of setting preconditions, but there had been none in Geneva before the talks proceeded.

“I really hoped the diplomacy, not only ours, will help the government and the opposition to actually do what is expected and what was expected,” he emphasized.

He said during the last two weeks, he had seven meetings with the government and 11 with the opposition.

“The opposition in particular engaged with us on all four baskets—governance, constitutional process, elections and countering terrorism. They also gave me some concrete ideas on the so called 12 essential principles.

The government engaged with me only on terrorism,” he said.

“We did not see the government looking to have a dialogue in this round, I have to say, regrettably, I did see the opposition trying to,” said the UN envoy, adding that “there is no alternative but to have the legitimacy of the UN”.

 

SYRIA PEACE TALKS

8th round ends without progress

GENEVA: The UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Thursday evening that the way Intra-Syrian peace talks proceed will come after he speaks to the Security Council as the eighth round ended Thursday without real negotiations taking place, reports Xinhua. The UN official is expected to leave Geneva to consult in New York with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on further steps, where he will also meet with the UN Security Council next week. He told a press conference after announcing the end of the new round of the UN-led Geneva peace talks on Syria that the last two weeks of talks had not yielded the intended results despite great efforts, which he described as a missed golden opportunity. Though a lot of efforts by my whole team have been made, day and night, with all sorts of creative formulas, we only have bilateral discussions with both parties, we did not have real negotiations, de Mistura said. The UN envoy said that both the government side and the opposition group had accused each other of setting preconditions, but there had been none in Geneva before the talks proceeded. I really hoped the diplomacy, not only ours, will help the government and the opposition to actually do what is expected and what was expected, he emphasized. He said during the last two weeks, he had seven meetings with the government and 11 with the opposition. The opposition in particular engaged with us on all four basketsgovernance, constitutional process, elections and countering terrorism. They also gave me some concrete ideas on the so called 12 essential principles. The government engaged with me only on terrorism, he said. We did not see the government looking to have a dialogue in this round, I have to say, regrettably, I did see the opposition trying to, said the UN envoy, adding that there is no alternative but to have the legitimacy of the UN.