Roundup: Will Syria consultations lead to Geneva 3?

The UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced on Tuesday the start of consultations on Syria with a view to finding viable solutions to the ongoing Syrian crisis.

Since the conflict began in March 2011, more than 220,000 people have died and millions have been displaced by widespread violence, with close to 4 million people having fled the country.

"In terms of humanitarian impact, this is the biggest tragedy since the Second World War," said the special envoy, who stressed that "no stone must be left unturned" when looking for solutions.

The consultations, to take place over the next 2 months, will be on a one-to-one basis and will involve a range of national, regional and international actors as well as Syrian civil society groups.

"These consultations are neither a conference nor are they Geneva 3," de Mistura clarified, adding that there will be no defined end to the low-key, structured discussions.

Tuesday's meeting will be the first of a series of consultations aiming to draw an outline of what a peaceful Syria could look like while laying the necessary groundwork for prospected negotiations.

"By June 30 we will assess the process and decide on the next steps to be taken - it is possible that consultations continue beyond this date," said de Mistura.

The Geneva Communique, which puts forward a plan of action for a peaceful Syrian-led transition, was issued three years prior after a UN-backed Action Group for Syria meeting took place.

The communique urged political settlements to offer future perspectives to all of Syria's stakeholders and called for steps to be implemented in a stable and inclusive environment.

It also defined transitional inclusive guidelines and called for a review of constitutional order and the legal system while stressing that it is up to the Syrian people to determine the future of the country.

Following Islamic State successes in the Syrian city of Raqqa in early 2013 and the Ghouta chemical attacks later that year which killed more than 1,400 people, the need to bring the Assad-led regime and the Syrian National Coalition to the negotiation table became pressing.

Not only did the attacks accelerate efforts to instigate talks, it also led to the unanimous adoption of UN resolution 2118 to remove Syria's chemical arsenal by mid-2014.

The Geneva II talks, which saw two rounds of negotiations take place in January and February 2014, were led by then UN peace envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and U.S. and Russian delegations.

Hailed as "a vehicle for peaceful transition" by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the talks stalled as divergent goals prevented political compromises from being made.

While the Syrian government focused on halting violence perpetrated by anti-Assad forces, the opposition concentrated their efforts on developing a transitional government.

Amid past and present cleavages and in light of an increasingly violent conflict, de Mistura stated: "There is never a good moment to start talks, but we must do something, we cannot just wait."

De Mistura hoped that the consultations would pave the way for the operationalisation of the communique, and enable him to verify if implementation gaps have narrowed since its inception in 2012.

Whether or not the private discussions, which bring together some 40 Syrian factions including opposition and armed groups, will lead to Geneva III remains to be seen, though "Geneva III is everyone's wish so as to stop the conflict through a political solution," de Mistura concluded. Endti