U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi says he does not expect to achieve “anything substantive” in the first round of the peace talks

GENEVA

The United Nations and Arab League envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, is set to return to his mediating role in Syrian peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Brahimi Wednesday said that "the ice is breaking, slowly" but warned that no "substantive" results were expected during the final two days of the internationally backed negotiations.

The current round of Geneva talks is due to conclude on Friday.

Syrian opposition and government representatives said on January 29 that there appeared to have been a small amount of progress in the Brahimi-mediated talks.

"We talked about the TGB [transitional governing body], as a very preliminary discussion," UN mediator, Brahimi said. 

"We also tried to see what is happening over the humanitarian issues, in particular about Homs, where negotiations between the United Nations and the Syrian authorities are still ongoing," Brahimi added.

"We realize every day that the two parties seem to be willing to stay on and to talk, but the gap between them is quite large," added Brahimi.

On the role of the Russians and the Americans and their external influence, Brahimi said: "I am in touch with the Russians, with the Americans and with others, and I hope that they will use their influence with the party; no, I’m sure they are and I’m sure that they will use them better in the future."  

Brahimi added, "The Americans have good relations with the opposition (SNC) and the Russians have good relations with the (Syrian) government. Russia and the United States now have good relations together. They talk together, and with me, and they use their ability to convince, which is better than my ability, to make the discussions easier."

We will separate on Friday and discuss what we will do when we resume; I hope that the second session will be more structured and hopefully more productive than the first session.”

We still expect to finish this first session on Friday, and on Friday we’ll agree on the exact date when we will resume, most probably after about one week," he added. 

Brahimi is the chief mediator between the Syria regime and the Syrian opposition, who are trying to negotiate a political solution to the longstanding conflict in Syria. 

More than 100,000 people have been killed and around nine million people have been displaced, after three years of Syria's civil war, according to the latest figures from UNHCR.

Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq are hosting over two million people fleeing the fighting.

The international peace conference between the Syria regime and the Syria National Coalition is presently being held in Geneva, Switzerland, to try and find a political solution to end the conflict.

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