Second round of Geneva II conference extends into Saturday

The second round of Syria peace talks will extend into the sixth day on Saturday, an UN official confirmed on Friday night. Corinne Momal-Vanian, spokeswoman with the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), said that UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi will meet with the delegates of Syrian government and the opposition on Saturday morning. After the first round of Geneva II negotiations between the delegations of Syrian government and the opposition mediated by Brahimi adjourned some ten days ago without concrete results achieved, the second round resumed here on Monday morning and was originally expected to end on Friday. The current negotiations stuck in setting the agenda of discussions, witnessing the two sides not budging an inch from their positions. The government side insisted to take stopping violence and terrorism as top priority, while the opposition focused on the establishment of a transitional governing body with full executives and without the presence of President Bashar al-Assad. Delegates of two sides both admitted this afternoon that this round of Geneva II conference failed to achieve any progress and traded blames for the gridlock. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad said that this round "did not make any progress", while Louay al-Safi, spokesman of the opposition delegation noted that the talks "reached an impasse."