KABUL: (MEP) The UN’s Syria representative, Staffan de Mistura said that Syria Peace talks is delayed until Friday January 29th in Geneva city of Switzerland.
The peace process was scheduled on Monday, will instead begin on Friday and last for six months, Mistura added.
Mistura told reporters “a stalemate” over the makeup of the delegations had forced the date back.
He expects to be able to send invitations to the representatives on Tuesday, but declined to say who would be asked to attend, only saying the list would be “as complete as possible”, he said.
“We are going to aim at proximity talks starting on the 29th and ongoing for six months” De Mistura said, adding that the first round was expected to last between two to three weeks.
“There will be no opening ceremony” the UN representative noted.
The announcement came as a truck suicide bomber killed at least 23 people in the Syrian city of Aleppo, most of them from the Ahrar al-Sham rebel group, according to the Syrian Station for Human Rights.
Obtaining a ceasefire and space to deliver humanitarian aid to suffering Syrians will be among the first priorities, he added.
De Mistura said to the reporters “We are all feeling… the time has come to at least try hard to produce an outcome”.
The talks will mark the first time the warring sides will take part in negotiations since January 2014, when de Mistura’s predecessor Lakhdar Brahimi hosted high-level but fruitless meetings in the Swiss cities of Montreux and Geneva, a round of talks known as Geneva II.
