GENEVA (AP) – The U.N. envoy for Syria will begin holding “substantive” peace talks with both Syria’s government officials and opposition representatives no later than next Monday, a spokeswoman for the envoy said Tuesday.
The resumption of Syria peace talks has been expected ever since a U.S.-Russia-engineered cease-fire, which went into effect on Feb. 27, sharply reduced the bloodshed in the five-year war. The truce – though limited and tentative – has mostly held, even as sporadic fire has continued.
Staffan de Mistura is still planning for the talks to officially start Wednesday, but logistics and other issues have meant that delegations are likely to arrive in Geneva over several days, spokeswoman Jessy Chahine said.
Opposition leaders have set conditions before they agree to rejoin the planned talks, and it is not yet certain whether they would indeed attend.
Mistura “will start substantive meetings with those who are in Geneva by latest the 14th of March,” Chahine told reporters. She said the talks would resume “in a staggered and proximity system,” meaning that they are to take place in various phases and not face-to-face, at least initially.