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UN hopes for ‘real’ Syria talks in October

August 18, 2017 at 10:30 am

UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura holds a joint press conference after a session within the fourth round of the intra-Syrian talks, marking the first time the Syrian regime and opposition delegations have returned to negotiations in Geneva on February 23, 2017. ( Mustafa Yalçın – Anadolu Agency )

A new round of Astana talks on Syria will be held at the end of this month, the UN’s envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, announced yesterday. Speaking at a joint press conference held in the Swiss capital Geneva with Jan Egeland, the senior UN aid official for Syria, de Mistura said that “short” Syria talks might be possible this month, expressing the hope for “real, substantial” talks in October.

The envoy called for unified talks between the Saudi-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) — which has insisted on Assad’s ouster — with two more moderate opposition factions, citing Egypt and Russia. The opposition “does require more time in order to come up with a more inclusive and perhaps even a more pragmatic approach,” he told reporters.

Responding to the envoy’s calls, an HNC official announced recently that one of the moderate factions, known as the Cairo Platform, was due in Riyadh this week for further discussions.

De Mistura also stressed that there is “a major opportunity for the opposition to take stock of the realities on the ground and take stock of their own need to be unified.” He pointed out that the declaration of the so-called de-escalation zones in Syria has been “positive so far,” hailing the Russian initiative to deploy military personnel to monitor those areas.

The UN official has previously hosted seven rounds of largely unsuccessful talks, with the fate of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad standing out as a main obstacle to progress.