UN leader Ban Ki-moon told Syria’s warring sides at a peace conference in Switzerland Wednesday that the time had come for negotiations to end the country’s bloodshed.
“Our purpose was to send a message to the two Syrian delegations and to the Syrian people that the world wants an urgent end to the conflict,” Ban said in a closing press conference at the talks held in the Swiss town of Montreux.
“Enough is enough, the time has to come to negotiate,” Ban said. “Syrians must come together to save their country, protect their children and find a peaceful path.”
“We must seize this fragile chance,” Ban said, after Syria’s regime and opposition gathered with world powers for the most serious push yet to end Syria’s civil war after nearly three years.
The UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, told the press conference he would meet on Thursday with both sides to discuss the next step in negotiations.
“Tomorrow I am going to meet them separately and see how best we can move forward,” Brahimi said. “Do we go straight into one room and start discussing or do we talk a little bit more separately?… I don’t know yet.”
Syrian regime and opposition delegations have been scheduled to start talks in Geneva on Friday following the conference.
