Syria’s warring sides are gathering on Wednesday with world powers in Switzerland, in a bid to find a peaceful solution for the nearly three year’s deadly crisis.
Syria’s warring sides are gathering on Wednesday with world powers in Switzerland, in a bid to find a peaceful solution for the nearly three year’s deadly crisis.
Meeting for the first time since the start of the conflict, the two sides could not be further apart as the "Geneva II" conference kicks off in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva.
Expectations to solve the crisis are low, but top global diplomats gathe
red for the conference believe that simply bringing the two sides together is a mark of some progress and could be an important first step.
"It would be wrong to expect progress in the next few days in terms of major breakthroughs," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on arrival Tuesday.
"Nevertheless, things can be achieved once diplomacy starts, once diplomacy is attempted -- we've seen that on many other subjects, including with Iran on its nuclear program," he added referring to nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers.
"Everybody has to understand that this is the beginning of a process. It's not going to be fast. It's very bitter fighting on the ground. And so there's going to be an absolute requirement for patience and for persistence," a senior US State Department official said.
The conference was to begin with formal speeches by UN leader Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The opposing Syrian sides are then expected to have their say, followed by representatives of the rest of the about 40 nations and international groups invited to Montreux.
No direct talks are expected until Friday, when opposition and regime delegations will meet in Geneva for negotiations that officials have said could last seven to 10 days.
Notably absent from the talks will be Iran, after Ban, pressured by the US, reversed a last-minute invitation when the opposition said it would boycott if Tehran took part.
