18/10/2013 09:00
Russia, U.S. deny date set for Syria peace conference
A senior Syrian official said on Thursday that a long-delayed international conference aimed at ending his country's civil war was scheduled for November 23-24, but co-organizers Russia and the United States said no date had been set, Reuters reported.
A spokeswoman for the U.N. Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi also cast doubt on the statement, saying the timing of the conference intended to bring Syria's government and opposition together had not yet been agreed.
Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil gave what he said were the dates for the meeting during a news conference in Moscow. He later told Reuters: "This is what (U.N. Secretary-General) Ban Ki-moon is saying, not me."
Hours later, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said: "We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves."
"It is not a matter for Syrian officials but the responsibility of U.N. Secretary General to announce and set dates agreed with all sides," he said.
The United States seconded that.
"We have discussed potential dates but nothing has been finalized," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a daily briefing. "No date is final until it is set and announced by the U.N."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has suggested the conference be held sometime in mid-November, will attend a meeting of the "Friends of Syria," including Western and Gulf Arab countries, in London on October 22 where the peace talks will be discussed, Psaki added.
Brahimi spokeswoman Khawla Mattar said she did not expect a date to be announced before early November.
"We are still not announcing a date because we don't think they are finalized or agreed by all parties," Mattar said.
But she said a deputy to Brahimi, Nasser al-Kidwa, would meet with Syrian opposition representatives in Istanbul and other capitals to "discuss with them their readiness for specific dates in November."