UN envoy hopes for Syria conference after July

GENEVA (AP) ? The U.N. special representative for Syria said Tuesday there is little hope that a peace conference to find a political solution to the deadly conflict in the country can take place in July as planned.

Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters he still hopes the international negotiations can be re-launched at a second peace conference in Geneva, but not until later in the summer.

Brahimi spoke as he arrived to mediate a daylong meeting between the U.S. and Russia, which are supporting opposite sides in the Syrian conflict that has killed more than 93,000 people.

"I doubt whether the conference will take place in July," he said, noting that the Syrian opposition is not meeting until early July and probably would not be ready.

He also said that Tuesday's meeting might not resolve issues such as how the conference should be conducted and who should participate.

The aim of the talks between Russia, which supports President Bashar Assad's regime, and the United States, which backs the opposition, is to lay the groundwork for another Geneva conference that will have "the best chances of success," Brahimi said.

"I am also confident that we will make progress, but I cannot be certain that we will resolve all these basic questions today," he said as he arrived for the daylong meeting between Wendy Sherman, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Russian deputy foreign ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-envoy-hopes-syria-conference-july-112117939.html

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