Conference on Syria settlement very soon: Ban Ki-moon
Moscow: The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that a conference on the Syrian settlement will take place “very soon”, possibly at the beginning of June, after consulting UN Security Council permanent members.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry that an international conference on Syria at a ministerial-level may be held in Geneva if both sides of the Syrian conflict agreed to participate in the event. The conference would be a follow-up to last year’s international meeting in Geneva that drafted a peace roadmap for Syria.
Syria has been locked in an increasingly bloody civil war since demonstrations broke out against Bashar al- Assad regime in March 2011. According to UN estimates, at least 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
