UN-sponsored Syria peace talks limped towards a close on Friday after more than a week in Geneva with little sign of progress beyond possible agreement on an agenda for more substantial negotiations. That may seem a low bar by which to judge diplomatic achievement - but for the United Nations' envoy Staffan de Mistura, simply keeping the process from collapsing is probably as much as he can hope for.
The veteran UN mediator warned from the outset against expecting "miracles" - especially as the position of US President Donald Trump's new administration is not yet clear - and there have certainly not been any. De Mistura has met daily with delegations from the Syrian regime and opposition groups, who - as in previous rounds - have not met face-to-face, apart from a symbolic joint opening ceremony last week.
On Thursday night, one week after that hopeful start, the Swedish-Italian diplomat held talks until 3:00 am, according to one source.
On Friday he was meeting again with all sides, and could hold a closing press conference in the evening, or if not then on Saturday, according to another informed source.
"As far as the negotiations are concerned, if they end today as is expected Mr de Mistura said from the very beginning that he does not expect a breakthrough," said Jihad Maqdisi, head of the Cairo platform, one of two smaller opposition groups in Geneva along with the main High Negotiating Committee (HNC).
"However, we have achieved a momentum and God willing this will be the end of the procedural matters so that in the next round, which may be held soon, we can achieve substantive progress."
The Geneva negotiations, the fourth round mediated by de Mistura and the first since last April, are aimed at ending a conflict that began in March 2011 with protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Its seventh year begins on March 15.
Since then more than 310,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled the country, fuelling instability in neighbouring countries and creating Europe's biggest migrant crisis since World War II.
The warring Syrian sides have been joined in Geneva by envoys of key parties including notably Russia, a major ally of Damascus.
But as in previous talks the focus has been almost exclusively on the agenda.
Under UN Security Council Resolution 2254 they should be framed in three "baskets" or areas of discussion: governance, constitution and elections.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.