MESOP: GENEVE IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE – Syrian Peace Talks Adjourn until April

The latest round of Syrian peace talks concluded yesterday in Geneva after ten days of discussions. The proximity talks — in which the regime and opposition factions never met directly — produced agreement on some key principles and U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who mediated the discussions, stressed that there were “no breakdowns, no walkouts,” though the regime remains unwilling to discuss a political transition. After meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that both Russia and the United States will encourage participation in continued talks. De Mistura has set April 9 as a tentative date for those discussions to resume. “Next time, we put the principles aside and we look now (to) the political process,” he said. More on : www.mesop.de