GENEVA (AP) – The U.N. envoy for Syria appealed to the U.S. and Russia to intervene to help revive Syrian peace talks that sputtered to a pause Wednesday, saying a recent spike in fighting has overshadowed the talks and put an increasingly feeble truce in “great danger.”
Staffan de Mistura spoke to reporters early Thursday after briefing the U.N. Security Council via videoconference about the largely stalled indirect talks between the Western- and Saudi-backed opposition and envoys from President Bashar Assad’s government, which has the backing of Moscow.
De Mistura said he hoped that the talks would resume in May, and he predicted the overall process would continue as previously planned through July. But stopped short of setting a specific date, pointing to recent upsurge in fighting, notably in and around Syria’s largest city of Aleppo.
De Mistura lamented the worsening violence, saying that “in the last 48 hours, we have had an average of one Syrian killed every 25 minutes, one Syrian wounded every 13 minutes … How can you have substantial talks when you have only news about bombing and shelling?”
Speaking at the end of a third session of Syria peace talks this year, de Mistura said a truce brokered by the U.S. and Russia had pulled off a “miracle” by sharply reducing violence in March, but acknowledged that the renewed fighting has put the truce “in great danger.”