Syria government, opposition meetings not fruitful: Brahimi

UN-Arab League Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi says two face-to-face meetings between delegates representing the Syrian government and the foreign-backed opposition in Geneva have not achieved much.

“We haven’t achieved much but we are continuing,” Brahimi said after three hours of talks with the two sides on Saturday.

The UN envoy said the second meeting, held on Saturday afternoon, focused on humanitarian affairs in the Arab country.

He added that they had “discussed at length the situation in Homs” and “tomorrow morning we will discuss the issue of prisoners, [and] people that have been kidnapped.”

Brahimi stated that he hopes a convoy carrying humanitarian aid would reach the western city of Homs on Monday.

Delegates from the Syrian government and foreign-backed opposition are meeting amid fundamental differences.

The Geneva II conference on Syria kicked off in the Swiss town of Montreux on January 22. It is aimed at finding a political solution to the crisis in the Arab country.

The opposition and its Western supporters insist that President Bashar al-Assad must step down and a transitional government be formed in Syria.

However, Damascus has rejected the demand, arguing that the foreign-backed coalition does not represent the Syrian opposition.

The United Nations says more than four million Syrians will be forced out of their homes in 2014 by the escalating conflict in the country that has displaced millions so far.