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UN Syria envoy hails Russia's withdrawal decision as peace talks start

Xinhua, March 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, on Tuesday welcomed the Syria pullout announcement by Russia made on the first day of the current round of Intra-Syrian Talks held in Geneva as "a significant development," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here.

De Mistura said that "he hoped that it will have a positive impact on the progress of the negotiations in Geneva, aimed at achieving a political solution of the Syrian conflict and a peaceful political transition in the country," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the withdrawal of the main part of Russian forces from Syria, saying the six-month military intervention had largely achieved its objective.

Meanwhile, the intra-Syrian talks commenced this week with de Mistura at the helm. The talks are being convened in the context of the full implementation of the Geneva Communique as the basis for a Syrian-led political transition.

Also on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a message to mark the fifth anniversary of the Syrian conflict, which broke out in March, 2011, to appeal to the stakeholders and the UN Security Council to fulfil their responsibilities and to help make the United Nations-mediated peace talks a success.

"If we miss this opportunity the consequences for the Syrian people and the world are too frightening to contemplate," the secretary-general said in the message aimed at the Syrian parties, regional and international stakeholders and the Security Council.

Already in the past five years, more than one-quarter million Syrians have been killed and nearly half of all Syrians have been forced from their homes.

Terrorist groups such as Da'esh and Al Nusra Front have capitalised on the chaos, with foreign fighters and sectarian militias continuing to pour into Syria, Ban said.

The conflict "has been the scene of the use of chemical weapons, siege and starvation as a tool of war, unlawful detention, torture, and the indiscriminate and criminal shelling and aerial bombardment of civilians," said Ban.

Syrian men, women and children feel abandoned by the international community, he said, urging those responsible for these crimes to be held to account. Enditem