Off the wire
• UN envoy welcomes participants as Syria peace talks resume  • EU food agency awards over 1 mln euros to research projects  • French shares edge down slightly  • Kenya pledges to work with industrialists to curb corruption  • UN Security Council extends Yemen sanctions for another year  • Feature: Egypt's Agricultural Museum documents Egyptian-Chinese friendship  • Netherlands reports budget surplus  • IS announces withdrawing from Syria's al-Bab  • MiG-29 aircraft catches fire during routine flights in Belarus  • Malta to continue support for BiH EU path: FM  
You are here: 　 Home

Plight of arrested, abducted or missing Syrians must not be forgotten: UN envoy

Xinhua, February 24, 2017 Adjust font size:

As warring parties convene here to resume Syria peace talks, the UN Envoy for Syria stressed Thursday that those who had been arrested, abducted, or gone missing since the Syrian conflict started in 2011 should not be forgotten.

His statement came after the envoy met a group of Syrian women who held a vigil in Geneva to urge parties to the talks to find a solution to the plight of detainees, abductees, and missing persons and their families.

"Because there are thousands and thousands of mothers, wives, daughters who are hoping that at least this aspect will be one of the benefits of any negotiations, and I cannot disregard that," he added.

De Mistura highlighted that both the Syrian government and rebel factions seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were responsible for these actions.

He also confirmed that he would be constantly raising the issue during talks.

Opposing delegations convened in the Swiss city on Thursday to kick off talks seeking to broker a political end to the six-year conflict.

Warring parties last participated in UN-mediated negotiations in April last year, after which talks were put on hold amid a humanitarian meltdown and systemic violence in the Middle East country. Endit