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Conflict in Syria

Syria’s High Negotiations Committee plans to return for talks in Geneva by April 4

The Saudi-backed opposition group says plans to hold parliamentary elections in syria on April 13 run counter to the United Nations resolution 2254

© EPA/DENIS BALIBOUSE/ POOL

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GENEVA, March 22. /TASS/. Syria’s opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) will return to Geneva for another round of intra-Syrian discussions on April 4, or even earlier than that day, HNC’s spokeswoman Basma Kodmani told TASS on Tuesday.

"We are definitely ready to return to Geneva, even before April 4," she said. "But we will not wait for elections in Syria [parliamentary elections were appointed for April 13 - TASS]."

"The schedule of the talks was outlined even before the current round. The next round is scheduled to begin on April 4 and we don’t think there are any grounds to delay it," she said.

Kodmani said plans to hold parliamentary elections on April 13 cannot be used to justify postponement of the intra-Syrian talks. These elections, in her words, run counter to the agenda of the talks, under which such elections are to be held in 18 months. "Why hold them now? This is a negotiations basis agreed by the government and the United Nations. It is resolution 2254," she said.

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