Jan 26, 2016

WASHINGTON — United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura formally issued invitations on Jan. 26, for Syria peace talks that are due to start Jan. 29 in Geneva and last for six months, as the Syrian opposition, meeting in Saudi Arabia, signaled it would seek clarifications on the talks before deciding if it would attend.

In a sign of the tremendous strains on the fragile diplomatic efforts, de Mistura announced that the relaunched peace talks would not, at least initially, have the Syrian government and opposition delegations meeting in the same room, but would have diplomats shuttling between delegations in different rooms. In addition, because agreement could not be reached to include Syrian Kurdish parties, among others in the Syrian opposition delegation, de Mistura issued a third set of invitations to a dozen individuals and groups, as well as women and nongovernmental organization (NGO) figures, that Russia wanted included.

Noting the past failed Geneva II Syria peace effort, which collapsed two years ago, de Mistura said the approach this time would be different — by holding rolling proximity talks over six months and canceling any high-profile opening ceremony.

“This is not Geneva III,” de Mistura told journalists at a press conference at the UN in Geneva Jan. 25. “This is leading to what we hope will be a Geneva success story, if we are able to push it forward.”

“There are political risks,” de Mistura acknowledged. “But those political risks and tensions … should take into account that our line … is clear: no preconditions, at least to start the talks. … The rest is open.”