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UN envoy on Syria suggests resumption of intra-Syrian talks

Mistura said that possibly it was time to try and bring the sides of the conflict to the negotiating table
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura AP Photo/Julie Jacobson
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura
© AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

UN, December 9. /TASS/. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said the time had come to consider the resumption of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition.

"I did raise and to a certain degree insisted on the fact that perhaps now is the time to actually look seriously at the possible renewal of looking where and how we can have political discussions," he told reporters after a closed meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday night.

"But to do so there is a need of a message, a message certainly from the government authorities to say they are seriously interested (in) not only coming to Geneva, as they told me in all fairness, but to come and discuss substantially along the framework of (the UN Security Council resolution) 2254, and for the opposition not to refuse to come," he continued.

Mistura said that possibly it was time to try and bring the sides of the conflict to the negotiating table.

"There are moments when this can be done and I think this is the timing when we should be starting looking at it," he said. "Otherwise we will leave the impression which no one wants to have, no one, that there is only a military victory or a military solution."

Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, earlier said that it was important to resume the intra-Syrian talks before the term of the current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expires on January 1. The diplomat said that Moscow has repeatedly called on Mistura to resume the discussion as soon as possible and criticized him for waiting for a perfect moment to return to the negotiating table.

According to Churkin, the UN envoy was under "enormous pressure" that prevented progress in the latest round of talks, held in Geneva on April 13-27. De Mistura expected the talks to resume in May, but they have since been postponed on numerous occasions.