GENEVA
The U.S. and Russia both promised to continue supporting ongoing Syria peace talks in Geneva, at a meeting with the UN and Arab League Special Envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, on Thursday.
"They have kindly reaffirmed their support to unblock the situation for us because until now we are not making much progress in this process," said Brahimi.
After having a two hour meeting with Wendy Sherman, Under-Secretary of State for the United States and Gennady Gatilov, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, UN mediator Brahimi said he asked for both sides to help quicken the pace of negotiations.
"We are not going to solve this issue, not the issue of violence and terrorism and not the setting up of a Transitional Governing Authority, this week or next week or even the week after," Brahimi said. "The aim only is to put these very important and very complicated issues on the table, and after that, God willing, we will see how to deal with them in the future," Brahimi said.
The experienced mediator was more positive about progress made in Homs in recent days.
"We are rather excited positively by the positive things that have happened in Homs. Quite a few positive things have happened in Homs. They have just announced that they are extending the ceasefire for another three days," said Brahimi. "They are a little bit more familiar with the presence of the other side. I don’t think that any friendships have developed yet."
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