GENEVA: The UN special envoy for Syria said that talks on ending the civil war have now officially started, following his first formal meeting with the main opposition umbrella group in Geneva.
“We are starting officially the Geneva talks… The discussions are starting,” Staffan de Mistura told reporters.
“We will meet the government tomorrow (Tuesday) and will invite the HNC (High Negotiations Committee) tomorrow afternoon to go deeper into the issues raised.”
The Swedish-Italian diplomat said he expected the talks to be “complicated and difficult,” but that Syria’s people deserved to “see something concrete, apart from a long, painful negotiation.”
He addressed reporters after wrapping up a preliminary meeting with the HNC, which arrived in Geneva on Saturday after days of deliberating whether they would attend.
