MOSCOW, November 25 (RIA Novosti) – A long-delayed international peace conference dedicated to ending the conflict in Syria will be held on January 22 in Geneva, the United Nations said Monday.The gathering has been repeatedly postponed because of the inability of participants to agree on preconditions for talks.
It would be the first time the Syrian government has negotiated directly with the country’s rebel movement.
"We will go to Geneva with a mission of hope,” Ban Ki-moon said in the statement.
The Geneva talks are expected to bring together the conflicting sides in Syria’s civil war, as well as influential countries in the region, the United Nations and major world powers, including Russia and the United States.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed Monday that the conference would begin on January 22.
Over 100,000 people have been killed and 9 million people displaced since fighting broke out in Syria in 2011, according to UN figures.
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