Sunday, October 16, 2016

Diplomatic talks on Syria fail

European countries were not represented at the meeting, but French officials confirmed that Foreign Ministers of like-minded nations planned to meet Kerry in London today to discuss the Syria crisis.
French and UK Government to set the tone of truce.

A new round of diplomatic talks on Syria has failed once again to break a tense deadlock on how to end fighting in Syria. Nine-nation meeting in the Swiss city of Lausanne did not agree on any concrete action to stop the violence. With clashes still raging in Aleppo, yesterday's talks, convened by US Secretary of State John Kerry, concluded after more than four hours without any joint statement from the participating countries. 

Kerry was seeking a new path to peace after failing to secure a ceasefire in direct talks with Russia amid increasing international outrage over the Russian and Syrian bombardment of Aleppo's rebel-held east. 

After the meeting, Kerry told reporters that the talks were constructive, but admitted that the parties had failed to agree on any concrete action. He also said the next contact between sides at the talks would be on Monday to discuss future steps.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the other hand, told Russian news agencies that the countries discussed several interesting ideas. Ahead of the talks, Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN ambassador, said that a key aim of the Lausanne meeting was to get countries that support moderate opposition groups to use their influence to work for a new ceasefire. 

Kerry and Lavrov were joined in Lausanne by Staffan de Mistura, the UN Syria envoy, along with the top diplomats of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all backers of Syrian opposition forces. Iran, a key supporter of the Syrian government, also sent its Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to take part in the talks.

Although European countries were not represented at the meeting, but French officials confirmed that Foreign Ministers of like-minded nations planned to meet Kerry in London today to discuss the Syria crisis.

No comments:

Competitiveness, climate, security Finn’s priorities Ministry of Finance release Finnish road map of EU presidency. Finland is set ...