Troubled Syria talks resume in Geneva

UN-BACKED Syria peace talks resumed in Geneva yesterday, with little hope of a breakthrough and the emboldened regime unlikely to make concessions.

The UN deputy Syria envoy Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy met government negotiators at a highend hotel in the Swiss city, before heading to another hotel to see the opposition High Negotiations Committee.

“We have started today preliminary talks,” Ramzy told reporters after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s representatives. “We hope we will be starting substantive discussions tomorrow.”

Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy to Syria, was due back from a diplomatic tour of the key powers shaping the conflict in Geneva yesterday evening to take charge of the negotiations.

The UN is aiming for a political deal to end a six-year conflict that has killed more than 320,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011.

On the agenda for this round is governance – a political transition, the constitution and elections – as well as counter-terrorism at the request of Damascus.

De Mistura tried to strike an optimistic note when the previous round ended last month, insisting “everything is ready” for the talks to move forward while reiterating his view that there is no military solution to Syria’s devastating civil war.