SyrIAn nEGotIAtors ArrIvE For GEnEvA pEACE tAlKs
SWITZERLAND Syrian negotiators arrived separately to meet UN mediator Staffan de Mistura in Geneva on Thursday in a lowkey start to the first UNled peace talks in almost a year. Government negotiator Bashar alJa’afari, Syria’s ambassador to the UN in New York, and lead opposition negotiator Nasr alHariri currently are at the UN office in Geneva, resuming negotiations that have been on hold since April 2016.
The scope of the talks has been cut down to core political questions since last year, after a new initiative by Russia, Turkey and Iran took thorny military issues off the Geneva agenda and transferred them to a separate process in the Kazakh capital Astana. Previous attempts to negotiate an end to the almost sixyearold conflict collapsed as violence escalated, especially around the city of Aleppo, which is now totally under the control of forces loyal to Syria’s government. The Astana talks have ushered in a shaky ceasefire which excludes hardline jihadist groups such as Islamic State.
The Britishbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes carried out air strikes on rebelheld areas in Deraa and Hama provinces on Thursday and insurgents fired rockets at government targets. But the overall level of violence in western Syria was lower than in previous days. He plans to welcome the delegations later on Thursday in the presence of diplomats, raising the prospect that he might bring the warring sides together in one room:”The plan is to have some kind of opening ceremony in which he welcomes the parties,” the Western diplomat said. Geneva talks in April last year never brought the negotiators together. Instead, de Mistura met the delegations in rotation, seeking points of common ground. (Reuters.com)