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Syrian gov't delegation still absent from Geneva peace talks

Xinhua,December 07, 2017 Adjust font size:

GENEVA, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Wednesday afternoon met with the Syrian opposition delegation for a bilateral talk, but the Syrian government delegation is still absent from the talks.

The government delegation led by head of Syria's mission to UN, Bashar al-Ja'afari, left the talks last Saturday for a weekend break and did not return on Tuesday, the day set by UN to resume the talks.

A UN source said earlier that the delegation of the Syrian Government had been invited back to Geneva, and the UN Special Envoy "stood ready to engage with them" when they returned.

Latest media reports said that it was likely that the government delegation would return to Geneva on Friday, Sunday or next Monday.

The new round of the UN-led Syrian peace talks, started on Nov. 28, has been scheduled to be held here in Geneva till Dec. 15.

De Mistura said earlier that the biggest obstacle for the ongoing talks is "trust". Enditem