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Tuesday 02 Feb 2016 - 11:44 Makkah mean time-23-4-1437
UN-brokered intra-Syrian talks kicks off in Geneva (UN Photo)
Geneva (IINA) – The intra-Syrian talks officially started in Geneva on Monday with two hours of negotiations between the United Nations mediator and the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), aimed at ending Syria's five-year civil war.
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who is mediating the indirect talks between government and opposition factions in close proximity diplomacy, is set to meet government representative on Tuesday morning and plans a second meeting with the HNC in the afternoon, after he met with them on Sunday.
These concern the opposition’s desire to see, for the talks’ duration, a reduction in violence, release of detainees and lifting the sieges that have driven several towns to the brink of starvation, with dozens reported dead, de Mistura told a news briefing.
He noted that in Vienna, where the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) laid the groundwork for the Geneva talks, there was a message that “in parallel there should be a serious discussion about a ceasefire.”
Asked about his short-term objectives, de Mistura said that his first immediate objective is to ensure the continuity of the peace talks with no one being excluded.
The UN envoy has made clear that he is under no illusions about the difficulties in ending a war that has killed over 250,000 people, sent over 4 million fleeing the country, displaced 6.5 million internally, and put 13.5 million people inside the country in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
AB/IINA
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