News & Events

Syrian rebel groups on Monday rejected Russia’s planned Sochi conference on Syria, saying Moscow was seeking to bypass a United Nations-based Geneva peace process and blaming Russia for committing war crimes in the country.

UN-sponsored talks in Geneva designed to end the Syrian civil war have collapsed, with a deflated special envoy Staffan de Mistura admitting “a golden big opportunity” had been missed.

With a flurry of diplomatic activity, two separate summits on Syria are to be staged this week to put decisive pressure on both sides to end the civil war and thrash out a new constitution that is likely to leave President Bashar al-Assad in power.

Representatives of the Syrian opposition and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime are meeting in Astana for a sixth round of talks. They are hoping to secure a ceasefire, but how far off is a lasting peace agreement?

The UN-brokered Syrian peace talks are failing due to external interference and can only be rescued by refocusing on the issue of political transition, a coalition of 160 Syrian civil society groups has said in an open letter to the UN’s special envoy.

Syrian UN Envoy de Mistura has announced the Geneva meeting between the long-battling government and rebel groups. Despite six years of entrenched conflict, one NGO provides hope for deaf Syrians.

The UN special envoy to Syria has said he will give the latest round of peace talks that resumed in Geneva on Thursday “a serious try”, but cautioned against talking about a breakthrough in attempts to end the six-year civil war.

Tortuous efforts to install a credible international body to entrench and broaden the patchwork ceasefire in Syria have partially succeeded on the second and final day of talks in Kazakhstan.