Naharnet

U.N. Security Council to Meet Friday on Syria

The U.N. Security Council will meet Friday for consultations with U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura on the breakdown in Syria peace talks, diplomats said Thursday.

Mistura will report to ambassadors of the 15 Security Council members on the decision to suspend the talks in Geneva.

The closed-door meeting was requested by Venezuela, which chairs the Security Council for the month of February.

After six days of separate discussions in Geneva with the Syrian regime and opposition, Mistura Wednesday announced a "pause" in the process, dashing hopes of coaxing Syria's warring parties into indirect "proximity talks" aimed at ending the almost five year old civil war.

Mistura declined to categorize the breakdown as a failure, and said discussions would resume on February 25.

With the opposition arriving late in Geneva and demanding immediate action on the humanitarian front while regime forces backed by Russia advanced on the ground, the announcement was of little surprise, experts said.

Source: Agence France Presse


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