GENEVA
— The participants in the Syrian peace conference averted a collapse in
the talks on Friday, agreeing to meet in the same room on Saturday for
the first time.
Earlier,
the government delegation had threatened to bolt, while the opposition
complained that the government side was not fully committed to the
framework of the talks.
After
a day of frantic negotiations, however, the United Nations special
envoy to the talks announced at a press briefing that the two sides had
agreed to meet. “Tomorrow we expect, and we’ve agreed, that we will meet
in the same room,” the envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, told reporters.
It
was unclear whether the sides would face each other in the meeting or
sit separately, with Mr. Brahimi shuttling back and forth, in what are
known as proximity talks.
United
Nations officials had hoped to hold a face-to-face meeting between the
government and the opposition on Friday, the third day of talks aimed at
ending Syria’s war. When that failed, Syrian government officials said
they would leave if the meeting was not rescheduled for the next day.
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