Geneva, 18 December 2013: The long-sought international peace conference on Syria
is set to begin on 22 January with a one-day meeting in the Swiss town of Montreux,
the United Nations confirmed on Tuesday.
The conference, originally scheduled
to take place in Geneva, will now be held in two parts, with the opening session in
Montreux, and, after a day’s break, moving on 24 January to the world body’s headquarters
in Geneva. The conference will bring the Syrian Government and the opposition to a
negotiating table for the first time since the conflict started in March 2011.
“After
the date had been chosen, it was realized that there would be other events taking
place in Geneva at the same time,” said Khawla Mattar, spokeswoman for Joint Special
Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is organizing
the conference. The World Economic Forum is due to begin in Davos on 22 January
with officials and VIPs passing through Geneva, as well as at least one trade fair
planned in Geneva.
Rather than change the date, which was selected due to the
urgency expressed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the agreement by the initiating
countries, the United States and Russia, the first day of the conference was be moved
to Montreux. The town, renowned for its legendary jazz festival, was selected due
to “logistics, security, availability of accommodation and conference facilities,”
Ms. Mattar said.
“The first part in Montreux …delegations of all invited countries…would
have an opportunity to express their views on the issue,” she explained, adding that
the second part, in Geneva, would then be restricted to only to the two Syrian delegations
and Joint Special Representative Brahimi.
The talks would not be open-ended,
and a time frame would be set once the negotiations started, Ms. Mattar announced.
Further details are expected to be discussed on Friday in a trilateral meeting between
Mr. Brahimi and officials from the United States and Russia.
The trilateral
group, due to meet at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, would then be joined by permanent
representatives of other permanent members of the Security Council – China, France
and the United Kingdom – as well as of the League of Arab States, European Union and
Syria’s immediate neighbours – Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey.
In addition
to logistics, the meeting will discuss items such as the list of countries to be invited,
and the compositions of the Syrian Government and opposition delegations.
Over
100,000 people have been killed and 8 million driven from their homes, 2 million of
them seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, since the conflict first erupted in
March 2011 between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and initially peaceful
opponents seeking to oust him. Source: UN