Syrian rivals to resume peace talks in Geneva
10-02-2014 10:29 AM
Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Negotiations between the Syrian government and the opposition will reconvene on Monday as the second round of the Geneva II peace talks are due to begin.
Last month, the first round of talks ended with no firm agreements from both sides on the deadly conflict in Syria, although U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi had said that some "common ground" had been reached and that the “ice was breaking.”
Brahimi had also voiced hope that Russia and the United States would exert greater influence over the two sides of the Syrian conflict to bridge “quite large” gaps. Both sides had been trading insults at each other throughout the first round.
The talks come a day after hundreds of people were evacuated from the besieged city of Homs under a three-day truce.
The humanitarian deal for Homs was the first concrete result of talks launched two weeks ago in Geneva to try to end the country’s nearly three-year-old civil war that has killed over 136,000 people.
The government insists the talks focus on fighting "terrorism," but the opposition says that the priority should be the removal of President Bashar al-Assad.
The opposition has insisted that the government commit to the 2012 Geneva I communique, which called for the formation of a transitional government.
*Alarabiy