GENEVA: A widely anticipated peace conference for Syria will probably not take place next month as hoped, UN peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said yesterday.
“Frankly, I doubt that the conference will take place in July,” he told reporters in Geneva ahead of a second meeting with US and Russian diplomats aimed at paving the way for the conference.
Brahimi was reluctant to discuss the expected outcome of Tuesday’s meeting, saying only: “I am confident that our discussions will be constructive and I am also confident that we will make progress.”
The Algerian career diplomat began his meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers Gennady Gatilov and Mikhail Bogdanov and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman at 11:30 GMT.
The meeting marked the second time this month the high-level diplomats gather in the Swiss city to try to organise the conference, which had originally been proposed for June, then July.
Brahimi stressed the urgency of holding the conference, dubbed Geneva 2, which is to be hosted by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and is meant to follow up on an initial meeting in the Swiss city last year that produced a never-implemented transition plan for Syria.
AFP
