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France urges quick resumption of Syria peace talks

Xinhua, January 13, 2017 Adjust font size:

French President Francois Hollande on Thursday called on Syrian rival camps to resume negotiations "as quickly as possible" to implement a peace accord through the United Nations (UN).

In a New Year greetings message to diplomats, Hollande stressed negotiations should resume and have to be led "under the auspices of the United Nations within the framework agreed in Geneva in 2012".

"The parameters have been set, so what needs to be done is to invite the concerned parties, all the parties, except fundamentalist and extremist groups, and to act in the Geneva framework," he added.

As part of diplomatic efforts to peacefully end the years-long civil war in Syria, the UN will convene a new round of Syrian talks on Feb. 8 in Geneva.

In December 2016, the Syrian government and rebel groups agreed on a Russian/Turkish-backed peace deal to stop hostilities in preparation for talks scheduled later this month in the Kazakh capital of Astana.

Syria's uprising, which the UN says has killed more than 300,000 people, has become one of the bloodiest of the Arab Spring revolts sweeping the region since the end of 2010. Endit