Talks to End Syrian Conflict Planned for November - East Idaho News
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Talks to End Syrian Conflict Planned for November

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102113 Nabil El Araby?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1382348405102UN Photo/JC McIlwaine(GENEVA) — Formal talks to end the 31-month Syrian conflict are scheduled to begin in Geneva on Nov. 23.

The announcement was made Sunday by Arab League chief Nabil el-Araby in Cairo after meeting with United Nations special enjoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

In preparation for the negotiations, which would presumably involve both members of the Syrian government and rebel groups along with the “London 11,” a group of Arab and Western nations including the U.S., will meet Tuesday with the Syrian opposition to discuss the logistics of the planned summit.

One possible monkey wrench is the insistence by some within the opposition that President Bashar al-Assad’s eventual resignation must be a precondition for peace talks, a demand that is a non-starter for Damascus.

Nonetheless, news of the Geneva summit is certainly welcomed, given that Washington and Moscow had worked out an arrangement last May for talks over the summer that never materialized.

Since March 2011, it’s believed that well over 115,000 people have died in Syria due to war-related violence.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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