UN Special Envoy for Syria starts new talks

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has announced a new round of consultations in Geneva. These are aimed at reviving stalled talks on the four year old conflict engulfing Syria.

Listen to this report by Peter Kenny in Geneva

The talks will be low key with no cut-off date. They will be conducted on a one to one basis with regional and Syrian actors away from the public eye, said the UN envoy.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says more than 220,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011. Millions are refugees. Amnesty International has accused the Syrian government and rebels of war crimes in the city of Aleppo.

“We must redouble efforts in search of a political….process. This view is shared by international community.”

“When it comes to Syria there is never a perfect moment…yet this is  no….while Syrian victims are reduced to statistics.”

The Italian-Swedish UN envoy said that even if the outcome of peace talks do not look optimistic the UN is bound to strive for an outcome.

Without giving details he said he has invited the leaders of opposition armed factions to the Geneva consultations.

De Mistura called the Syrian conflict the "biggest humanitarian tragedy since the Second World War," and said he would "leave no stone unturned" in trying to end the fighting and use any opportunity to stop violence.