| Hey look! They've decided on the shape of the table! |
Technical preparations for a new Geneva conference on Syria were "almost complete," the UN announced Tuesday, as an aid group said that authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan had imposed a daily quota on the number of refugees crossing into the territory, dpa reported.
"The table will be round oval square rectangular." |
Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the UN assistant secretary general for political affairs, told the UN Security Council that a political solution is urgently needed to end the bloodshed in Syria.
"We hope that the international community will remain committed to this (political) process and will contribute to its success, in word and in action," he said. He gave no details about the preparations.
| "We're still not sure about the color of the tablecloth." |
The United States, Russia and the UN hope the second Geneva conference will implement provisions reached in the first one held last year, which called for a transitional government with full executive power in Damascus. But the US and Russia, which had yet to agree on a date for the conference, remained divided over political issues in Syria, where the UN says more than 100,000 people have died in the 29-month-old civil war.
Fernandez-Taranco said the Syrian government's recent victories over the armed opposition "should not give it false confidence that it can win militarily."
"Likewise, promises of arms should not push the opposition towards different priorities or expectations other than a political solution."
| "The food, however, will definitely be catered." |
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