RSS Feed
January 29th, 2016 
Awake Goy The Syrian government delegation headed by the country’s ambassador to the United Nations has arrived in Geneva for peace talks mediated by the UN.
“The government delegation, headed by Bashar al-Ja’afari, has arrived at the Geneva airport,” a source close to the Syrian government said on Friday.
There had been speculations that the highly anticipated talks could be delayed due to objections raised by some groups fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Officials in the office of the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said the UN diplomat will start the talks by holding a meeting with the Syrian delegation later in the day.
“Mr. de Mistura will start by meeting the government’s delegation today, headed by the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations, Mr. Bashar Ja’afari,” said a statement, adding that meetings with “other participants” as well as “representative of the civil society” are also on the agenda for de Mistura.
Some opposition groups on Friday said they will stay away from the talks as their demand had been ignored by the UN.
Basma Kodmani, a member of the opposition’s negotiating team, said they are still waiting for a response from the UN on demands such as lifting the siege on militant-held areas and an end to the aerial campaign by Russian and Syrian warplanes.
The Russian Air Force has been engaged in combat sorties against the positions of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists in Syria since September 30, 2015, upon a request from Damascus.
On January 25, de Mistura said in a briefing with reporters that no precondition will be accepted ahead of the negotiations, adding that the warring sides of the conflict should not miss the great opportunity of negotiations in Geneva.
De Mistura’s statement on Friday reiterated that the fresh round of talks will be, as declared before, in form of “proximity talks” with no direct meetings planned between the government and representatives of the foreign-backed opposition.
By Press TV
Source Article from http://theiranproject.com/blog/2016/01/29/syria-delegation-in-geneva-for-peace-talks/
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
