The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
January 30, 2014

U.N. Envoy: "Ice is Breaking Slowly" in Syria Peace Talks 
----------------------------------------------------------


 
The Syrian peace conference is in its final round of talks before
wrapping up on Friday. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said the Assad regime
and members of the Syrian opposition have made little progress, but
called for patience.

*Lakhdar Brahimi: ''I do not expect that we have achieved anything
substantial. I am very happy that we are still talking. That the ice is
breaking slowly, but it is breaking and that we will separate on Friday
and discuss what we will do when we resume. I did not expect ... I am
not disappointed because I did not expect any result this first time.
This is exactly what I though we would do. Just talk to one another and
also agree that we will continue talking to one another.''

Friday's talks will focus on setting up a follow-up for the next round
of negotiations. The two sides remain deadlocked over the role of Basher
al-Assad in a future transitional government.

 

.