GENEVA (AP) – Members of the main Syrian opposition group said Monday they plan to give U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura a “roadmap” for implementation of their humanitarian demands on Syria that they say must happen before they formally join indirect peace talks with a government delegation in Geneva.
Farah Atassi, a member of the opposition coalition known as the High Negotiations Committee, said the top priority should be to stop the “unprecedented bombardment by the Syrian regime” of rebel-held suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus.
The group was to meet with De Mistura at U.N. offices in Geneva on Monday. But his spokeswoman, Khawla Mattar, said indirect talks between the two sides were unlikely before Tuesday. De Mistura rescheduled a planned meeting with the government delegation Monday morning because he wanted to hold an official meeting with the opposition before launching indirect talks.
The talks in Geneva are aimed at ending a five-year conflict that has killed 250,000 people and displaced millions, leaving vast swaths of the country in ruins. They have been slow in starting, largely because of disputes over which opposition groups can take part and opposition demands that the government allow aid into besieged rebel-held areas and halt its bombardments of civilians before the talks start.
“We have come to Geneva to seek relief for our people by insisting U.N. Security Council resolution 2254 is implemented, which means humanitarian relief, the lifting of sieges, and the end of attacks on civilians,” spokesman Salem al-Mislet said in a statement.