International peace talks aimed at ending Syria's civil war have begun in the picturesque lakesidecity of Montreux in Switzerland. While fighting continues on the ground in Syria, delegates from30 countries have gathered to try to achieve a political settlement to the three-year civil war,which has left more than 100 thousand people dead and displaced millions more.
"Welcome to Montreux, a delicate Swiss town that lies along the sparking blue waters of LakeGeneva. It's an absolutely beautiful day, a day sadly far far away from a country being tornapart by war. And that's why Syrians from the government and the opposition have gatheredhere today along with foreign ministers and envoys from more than 40 countries. It took 9months of pushing, pulling, pressure to get the two Syrian delegations to the same table. Andthey sit here today after a nearly three years of a punishing war. "
"The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rose to the occasion and tried to set the tone of thismeeting. And he called on the Syrian delegations to show restraint, to be statesman like. WhenSyria's Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallim took the floor, he spoke not for 10 minutes asinstructed, but 20 minutes, 20 minutes of contempt and condemnation. He even tried thepatience of the famously soft-spoken Secretary General. In one sense, this crisis is about awar which is costing the lives of millions of people. On the other, it always comes down to justone man. Directly or indirectly Bashar al-assad, president of Syria was mentioned in all oftoday's speeches. The US Secretary of State John Kerry said the only obstacle before a peacedeal was, as he called it，‘the stubborn clinging to power of one family and one man'. SergeyLavrov the Russian Foreign Minister put it more diplomatically. He said there could be nopredetermined outcomes. In other words, no calls for President Assad step down. This is onlythe start of what would be a long, difficult and at the moment dangerous process, but at leastit's beginning."
