The second day of the resumed Geneva II peace talks on Syria has come and gone, and UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says that a disappointingly small amount of progress has been made so far.
Speaking in a news conference after the talks, Brahimi said the talks were proving as “laborious” as before the 10-day pause, when they spent two solid days passing notes before they could even get the two sides to agree to meet in the same room.
Officials from both sides of the talks agreed with Brahimi on that count, with Syria’s Deputy FM Faisal Mekdad dubbing today a “lost day” and an opposition spokesman saying he saw “no progress” at all.
Brahimi had sought to make the day about ending the fighting inside Syria, difficult since the attending opposition controls virtually none of the rebel troops. He had wanted to talk about a “transitional government” on Wednesday, which will likely be a similar non-starter.