♪ u.n. brokered talks aimed at ending the syrian conflict due to get underway in geneva. ♪ hello there and welcome to al jazeera,s i'm laura kyle in doha, also ahead [sirens] a powerful car bomb in the turkish capitol ankara injuries and kills. it carried out attack on a beach resort in the ivory coast, 16 people there are dead and

thousands of coal minors defy authorities in china to take part in rare protests. ♪ a new round of talks to try and end the syrian conflict are due to get underway shortly in geneva, diplomates are hoping to build on a fragile truce which reduced the level of violence in syria since it came into effect at the end of february but not all sides have been invited to the talks and the syrian government agreed to attend but foreign minister says it will not discuss the presidency and main opposition representative will there be but only will accept a govern body within six months and the high negotiation community represents the coalition and the free syrian army. russian wants ethnic kurdz in the talks but not invited and i.s.i.l. and the front el nusra

front have also been excluded and we are joined on set by senior political analyst and we are expected aren't we to hear from the envoy sef -- staffan de mistura and he is collar of his agenda but the other sides are not so much so. >> after the destructive civil war we are all just happy they can be in the same building, right, but there are conflicting interests and not just conflicting positions if you will. there are more now forces that are effecting the negotiations in geneva as everyone in the world knows the russians and americans are heavily involved and almost like super power politics and regional politics and players if it's ankara, riyadh and the i.s.i.l. and da'esh in raqqa and mosul so all of these factors tend to play

into what is happening in geneva and what staffan de mistura can or did and approval over the last several months to be a diplomate who continues unredent lentingly to hold the threads and they are thin and hard to let go when people pull when people let go. >> representative of the syrian government, syrian ambassador to the u.n. at talks as he was last time and the time before that but then he only wants to talk about defeating terrorism and refusing to talk about and i do believe that staffan de mistura has just come out. we are just seeing him sitting down there in geneva. she going to be talking from the nations ahead of the third rounds of negotiations so let's listen in to what he is saying. >> introduce the special envoy

staffan de mistura who doesn't have much time this morning but did want to meet with you before the talks and staffan de mistura you have a few words to say first. >> yes and i will take requests. >> really? two or three. >> okay, the first thing, thank you, thank you very much, the first thing i would like to say is that i would like on behalf of the secretary-general and of my own team to expense my own condolence and those of the united nations for this horrific attack which took place in ankara yesterday. it's the first opportunity for me to say so and i did call this morning, very early this morning the turkish ambassador here in geneva to express our own sadness about it.

>> are you hearing okay everybody? sor sorry. >> let me qualify a little bit now of the talks and then give you some indications about the information i can give you at this stage and we are at the beginning and the first one is these talks are important. they are strongly wanted and requested by the issg which is the 18 countries who are part of it plus two international organizations. they are strongly urged by the u.s. and russia federation and the security council so let's be

clear. these talks are wanted by the international stakeholders and today, this afternoon, in our time, our evening, i will be briefing the political council. they are urged by the syrian people. they took place at the time of a fragile, i recognize it, but by and large holding cessation of hostilities after syrian people. and why more besieged areas are being reached than ever before. not enough. not enough. but taking place. and people see that. the public statements are going to be showing and they have already done that there is much distance between the sides and in this sense these exist.

and we are going therefore to proceed through the technique of proximity talks as we did previously and we will this time enhance it. the agenda is set. it is based on 2254 and within the framework as you know in the guidance, no question on that, of the geneva communication. spoilers will try to upset the talks by incidents, by whatever you will be seeing and we will be seeing and the secret will be to be bold, determined and have the international community and those i just mentioned keeping that type of capacity. public rhetoric will try to cast iron preconditions but this is a moment of truthism and hopefully

proactive chance. the u.n., let's see, admitting and accepting what we are, we are going to facilitate, we are facilitating, mediating, pushing, stimulating, by the real peace makers here are the peace making powers who wanted these talks, the issg and the security council members and hopefully the syrian sides. if during these talks in the next round we will see no notice of any willingness to negotiate which we hope is not going to be the case obviously we will do what we want to do and we have done, we bring the issue back to those who have influence and that is the russian federation, the usa, cochairs of the issg

and to the security council. the task forces one on the humanitarian side and one on the cessation of them we will be meeting this week and next week and we are using those task forces in order to contribute to make sure that the talks are focusing on the real issue and what is the real issue, the political transitions. therefore the task forces can be extremely helpful in actually addressing those issues which in a way are potentially deflecting for the focus on the focus on the political process.

the alternative some people call it plan b as you know. well, as far as i know the only plan b available is return to war and to even worse war than we had so far. rules of the game, now we are getting into technical aspects, we will be doing a briefing. we are just doing a prebriefing today. and we will have a briefing every monday or at the beginning of each week. and the next briefing could be next monday. it's not cast in iron. you will see we will have to adjust ourselves but that is the rule so you know every beginning of the week we will have an opportunity to exchanging a little bit more deeply our own assessment of where we are. and certainly there will be one

briefing or meeting together at the end of the first round which at the time being is expected to be around the 24th of this month. stakeouts of course will take place. every time that there is need i will probably do some of those directly, especially at the beginning and otherwise it will be our two spokesmen, akm ashan jessie and in order to be sure you are protected from past pas errors and geneva from the press should not be bypassed and i got the message and forgive me but i move quickly and sometimes based

on my own connections and people who call me they will be no disclose of interviews given during this period of the talks but of course after the talks and i may decide of course depending on the situation to clarify issues, to clarify issues if there is a need, example if there is an issue which is coming up, and is being stated in one way or the other, my own approach would be then to clarify those and perhaps call for a press conference in that case. meetings will be announced as soon as possible but normally not before one hour before they take place because there will be a lot of changes in the scheduling. the first meeting is today with the government and it will be taking place in about 45 minutes, more or less one hour.

yesterday, yesterday my first meeting was with whom, let's see, can we do a little bit of testing? which was my first pleating yesterday, please reply. anyone of you. and i will interview you. can anyone say with whom did i have the first meeting? beg your pardon? anyone else? that is the wrong answer by never mind. i forgive you. >> nice try. >> madam? no, and i'm a little bit disappointed but anyway the first meeting, not by accident yesterday afternoon actually took place with syrian women and it's not by accident. i met the syrian women's

advisory board, had a long meeting with them, almost an hour and a half. they are -- those who i hope will be able to contribute more than ever before to at least our understanding on how to address the syrian crisis. then i met as a courtesy call in a short-call meeting because the real meeting starts today the government and then later on i met the agency. again, relatively short meeting in their own hotels as a matter of courtesy. the next meetings are going to be more structured. the rule of the game would be inclusiveness. we will find thanks to the proximity approach and to the rule that are being given by the security council to include as many as possible either this round or next round. in fact, the list of those that

we are going to consult or meet or will be part of eventually i hope not only proximity negotiations but, in fact, negotiations is going to be constantly updated because the message is to me that should be all inclusive and the syrians should be all syrians should be given a chance. can i now make one additional point if i may? one is an antedote which leads me back to what was my first meeting and the second one is while we are talking i hope you will bear in mind that somewhere else, i think in amman, there is at the very time we are raising the issue, the presentation of the report of unicef on the

situation of syrian children. it does have an impact only us. it is a reminder to us that these talks cannot only be about procedure or posturing but need to address the issue of syrian children and that at any cost we have to try to maintain and increase the impact of the cessation of hostilities which is making a difference but not enough and after humanitarian access which is making a difference but not to all areas besieged and beyond. so let me remind you what you will see from the report, to me they had an impact. 2.7 million children under five, what does it mean? have they seen anything beyond the war? have they seen anything that looks a normal life? 3.7 million children have only seen war in syria. 7 million of them live in families which are on the level

of prepoverty. 900 of them, almost 1,000, were killed last year. and 150 of them while they were sitting in their own schools. just to tell you what the message is telling us. when you link it to the 15th which is wednesday, and i know you are aware of it, that means five years anniversary, sad anniversary. last point a little bit of an antedote if you allow me which was actually reported to me yesterday by one of the syrian women of the syrian advisory board. she had been visiting syrian women in the alley in lebanon and had seen some other women in both in turkey and in jordan and one of them said to her, and i

think it was quite an impact i said i'm living in a tent here, i'm living in a tent with my family but if the ceasefire holds, if the humanitarian aid continues moving and if we have a feeling that this is going to produce peace in syria do you know what i'll take this tent and you know i will bring it back to where my house was, which is just ruined, and put my tent there because i want my own dignity and i love my country. i think that message is what at least to me will i believe with my colleagues pushing ahead not simply because this is a job like here too is quite a stimulation for making sure these talks which start should become effective. thank you very much. >> thank you, special envoy. i will give the floor first in recognition of the strategy in

turkey to our turkish correspondent, please. >> turkish news agency, mr. staffan de mistura i was wondering what your comments would be on the syrian foreign minister dismissed the discussion of the presidential elections with 18 months in syria and i was wondering what would you say about it? thank you. >> it is my habit not to comment on the statements made by any foreign minister or any of the stakeholders and i practiced that so far. i made a statement. i feel that that statement is consistent with the 2254 but i have no more comments to make, thank you. >> please go ahead. >> from the geneva peace core. >> good. >> mr. staffan de mistura as you mentioned just minutes ago about

the security council resolution and the geneva communication when you will be officially starting from today with this question of government of unity, there are big differences between geneva communication and the security council resolution, how will you deal with the differences especially that we see the demands of the two parties are completely different when they talk about this item? thank you. >> well, first of all, just to get back to madam and please convey our condolence because it was terrible and happening just before, sorry, yeah, and my line on future of syria is the one which the secretary-general has been maintaining. it is up frankly to the syrian people to vote, elect, decide but we need to help them.

one way to help them through the international community is having three points of 2254. at the end of the day it will be up to them to decide how to run their own country. regarding the points that you just mentioned, please, that is i think we will have a private training on how negotiations take place afterwards because you are asking me to reveal the techniques and approaches that we may be using in order to cover or bridge a gap that is obviously there but that is why we are in negotiations. >> turn to mohamed from al jazeera, please go ahead. >> from al jazeera. so earlier to say staffan de mistu mistura.

>> the question is from al jazeera is there a date, a final date that you have informed all the parties about to conclude an agreement so that these talks don't go on forever? >> more or less, thank you. and the reason more or less a date, we have been aiming at three rounds. and the first round is starting god willing today. the second one will by will say a week, ten days after a new recess which is 24th and then that round should be lasting at least a week and then the third round would be after that. by then we believe that we should have at least a clear roadmap. i'm not saying an agreement, but

a clear roadmap because that is what syria is expecting from all of us. >> if i could turn to the president whose hand has been up. >> thank you special envoy and thank you for taking into account some of our concerns, first a demand, could you please make sure that your team will announce beginning and the end of the various session in geneva in the next coming days and then would like to turn to a question, you were mentioning spoilers who were trying to spoil the talks, trying to torpedo the talks and who are they and what might happen many the next couple days? >> first of all i can't tell you what will happen in the next couple of days because we are all starting those talks while at the same time cessation of hostilities is progressing 17

days, believe it or not, in lebanon used to last 20 minutes for a period and at the same time the humanitarian process is still going on but not enough so i can't tell you what will happen in the next two days but what i can tell you is what i plan to do, what we plan to do is to move forward first from what may be a slightly procedural and then into real discussion about the substance. i mentioned the agenda. spoilers i hope. >> the u.n. special envoy for syria talking in geneva addressing the press ahead of a new round of talks between the two sides in the syrian conflict and those talks are due to get underway within an hour. and he met syrian women from the syrian advisory board and government and hnc the process is underway but he says the rule of the game is inclusiveness and

let's now speak on set who has a little context of what staffan de mistura was talking about and he did spend a lot of time, didn't he, pressing home the talks and unicef report and children have only known war and antedote from syrian women he talked to yesterday and emphasized there is no plan b. >> yes, okay, let's start with the plan b and interestingly speaking you know somebody or someone mentioned or some people, in fact, plan b was mentioned by american secretary of state john kerry, in washington, during a senate hearing about the state department's budget and he said if this doesn't work we were going to go to plan b and with specifics he said he wasn't going to give specifics but analysts have said he was talking about possibilities that are certainly uglier than what is being proposed for us as a

division of syria and the likes. the problem with that is that both the russians and the americans have been flying out trial balloons in washington and moscow and we heard about part b and federation and the head of the negotiations are saying with the federation is what worked for syria so these fantasies coming out from washington and moscow being projected on the situation of syria before the syrians even meet is certainly not helpful to staffan de mistura and not helpful to the syrians but as mr. staffan de mistura said the court chairman of the u.n. nesh tif are the russians and americans. >> there are no willingness to the talks and will take it to the united states and u.n. security council and has emphasis on the external players

there. >> that is what he did last time, last time he basically called off negotiations early and went back to russians and americans and happened before when he was trying to initiate something except the last time around when the ceasefire was called in order to pave the way for this negotiations back on the 27 of february it was announced then it didn't happen even for you know as a result of a meeting between l sergei fedorov and they talked about the factors that are going in, into the syrian situation are not only something that cannot be resolved between sergei fedorov but it takes the two world super powers to deal with all of this to agree with the question of syria so both the diplomatic, the strategic and let me emphasize this please for a second and the charitable

humanistic cause of syria really does fall at the doorstep of moscow and washington because let's not fool ourselves the syrians made a lot of mistake in the last four or five years but it was moscow and washington that blocked a serious international ever to stop the blood shed and the genocide in syria, not anyone else, it's their responsibility mainly as international players. >> thanks very much for joining us on set with a context of what staffan de mistura was saying and diplomatic editor james base was in the briefing in geneva and despite the serious nature of the subject matter there was it seems light hearted atmosphere with the special envoy even giving the journalists a quiz. >> yes, absolutely, asking us who he actually met first on sunday because they didn't publish any details of his meetings on sunday. in fact, the only ones that

asked the journalists found out with a meeting of the opposition that took place here late in the evening geneva time and it was courtesy and he had a meeting with the government side and it was important that he had a meeting with women groups and dealing with the real people of syria before he was dealing with the political figures and mr. staffan de mistura throughout this has been keen i think to be positive and keep the momentum growing because he knows there really are very different crunch issues and if he was to dive straight into those straight away the talks would collapse. yes, he says he wants substantive talks and will deal with the mother of all issues as he described it, political transition but he is going to do it very carefully because if he was to talk about the future of president assad with the syrian government on his very first meeting which starts in less than an hour's time and then discuss that with the opposition

he knows they have completely different views. he was asked how he was going to bridge that gap during the news conference and he said he wasn't going to give away the secrets of his mediation and the tricks he has up his sleeve. >> the future of assad is the main sticking point and says the agenda is based on resolution 2254 and the geneva communication and can you remind us briefly dave what is in those two? >> well, i think what is interesting about this is the syrian government delegation and their chief negotiator who is normally the ambassador of the syrian government of the u.n. in new york seems to not accept that basic resolution which is the agenda for the talks 2254 which is the idea that they come up with some sort of new ruling body to rule syria and take it then in 18 months to free and fair elections the syrians have not been in power since