Top UN officials on Tuesday called on the Security Council’s strong support for Syria following the 6 February earthquakes, which worsened an already dire situation in the wake of 12 years of brutal civil war.
UN-brokered face-to-face talks between the Syrian Government and opposition – the first to take place in nearly nine years of fighting – to draft a new constitution for the country, will continue into next week, the UN’s Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said on Friday.
Talks to decide the future of Syria have begun in Geneva, where the UN’s Staffan de Mistura said that he hoped it would be remembered as the moment when the “long, hard journey towards peace” began.
Addressing the Syrian government and opposition delegations in a rare face-to-face encounter, the UN Special Envoy for Syria appealed to them to reach a political solution to the near six-year war.
He conceded however that they faced “an uphill battle” to reach an agreement which would end the conflict, even though it was what the Syrian people wanted.
In Syria, progress has been made on getting aid into besieged areas, but much more needs to be done, the UN said Thursday, amid uncertainty about a cessation of hostilities.
Talking to journalists at the UN in Geneva, the organisation’s Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said that nearly 200 trucks carrying and air drops had delivered humanitarian aid in recent days to the war-torn country.