UN sees six-month Syria talks starting on 29 Jan.

Reuters: Talks on ending the war in Syria are expected to start on 29 January and take six months, the U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told a news conference on Monday in Geneva.

De Mistura, who said he hopes to send out invitations on Tuesday, said discussions about who would be invited were still ongoing.

He said a first phase of talks would last 2-3 weeks, with a focus on a ceasefire, stopping Islamic State(IS) and increasing humanitarian aid.

Governance, a constitutional review and future U.N. sponsored elections would also be priorities.

“We are going to aim at proximity talks starting on the 29th and ongoing for six months on a staggered chronological proximity approach. That will be the way we try to make it different from the past. This is not Geneva 3, this is leading to what we hope will be a Geneva success story if we are able to push it forward,” de Mistura said.

But he added that “first priority will be the focus of the talks of what most Syrians, if not all, want to hear: the possibility of a broad ceasefire, and the possibility of stopping the threat of ISIL, and therefore, and thanks to a broader ceasefire, an increase of humanitarian aid,” he said.

Discussions on who should take part were ongoing in various capitals, including Washington, Moscow, Ankara and Riyadh, he said.