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Syria talk invites go out … who’s in and who’s out?

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura issued invitations Jan. 26 to new Syria peace talks in Geneva beginning Jan. 29 that could last six months, while acknowledging that the relaunched peace effort is going to be uphill.
U.N. mediator for Syria Staffan de Mistura (2L) and his staff attend a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland January 25, 2016. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse - RTX23X47
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WASHINGTON — United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura formally issued invitations on Jan. 26, for Syria peace talks that are due to start Jan. 29 in Geneva and last for six months, as the Syrian opposition, meeting in Saudi Arabia, signaled it would seek clarifications on the talks before deciding if it would attend.

In a sign of the tremendous strains on the fragile diplomatic efforts, de Mistura announced that the relaunched peace talks would not, at least initially, have the Syrian government and opposition delegations meeting in the same room, but would have diplomats shuttling between delegations in different rooms. In addition, because agreement could not be reached to include Syrian Kurdish parties, among others in the Syrian opposition delegation, de Mistura issued a third set of invitations to a dozen individuals and groups, as well as women and nongovernmental organization (NGO) figures, that Russia wanted included.

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