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Officials urge swift revival of Syrian peace talks

Xinhua, July 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and United Nations (UN) Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura urged a swift revival of the Syrian peace talks, after a meeting held here on Monday.

Both officials stressed the next months will be essential to finding a path toward political transition in the war-torn country.

"This is a crucial moment for Syria," Staffan de Mistura told a join press conference after the meeting.

"From now on to September, there is still an open window to find a formula able to combine the fight against terrorism and the political transition in Syria. And a key factor is an agreement between the United States and Russia," he said.

Syria's civil war erupted in early 2011. Full-scale fighting between government forces on one hand, and opposition armed factions and Islamic extremist groups on the other, killed at least 270,000 people and forced 4 million Syrians to flee abroad so far.

Some 13.2 million people within the country are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

During Monday's meeting in Rome, Italy's efforts to effectively relaunch the truce and encourage a political transition were highlighted.

"Italy is working to facilitate the transition process," Gentiloni said.

A first, immediate goal was indeed to consolidate the ceasefire, which has allowed several results such as the humanitarian aid access to besieged Syrian towns, according to the minister.

The second goal was to revive peace talks, and Gentiloni voiced Italy's full support to the UN's action plan to bring the parties back to the negotiating table in the coming months.

"We need to return to the negotiating path, and without preconditions, to allow things to change," Gentiloni said.

Also on Monday, Gentiloni held talks with the Chief Coordinator of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) of the Syrian opposition Riad Hijab.

"We ask guarantees to start political negotiations," Hijab told a press conference after the talks.

"Italy and its partners in the European Union (EU) can indeed play a great role in stopping the haemorrhage of Syrian blood, and launching a real political transition," the Syrian opposition representative added. Endit