Damascus, Dec 7 (AFP) The Syrian government delegationwill return to Geneva on Sunday for the resumption of peacetalks hosted by the United Nations, the foreign ministry saidtoday.
"The Syrian government delegation will arrive in Genevaon Sunday to take part in the eighth round," state news agencySANA reported, citing a foreign ministry source.
"The delegation will return to Damascus on December 15,"the source added.
A fresh round of talks aimed at putting an end to nearlyseven years of bloodshed in Syria opened last week in Geneva.
Negotiations were paused over the weekend and resumed onTuesday, but without the government delegation headed bySyria's UN ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari.
Jaafari had criticised the talks before his departure,saying there were "big problems in this round", a reference tothe opposition's insistence on President Bashar al-Assad'sremoval.
The opposition, united in one delegation for the firsttime, has so far defied calls to give up on its demand thatAssad step down before any peace deal can be reached.
Jaafari described that position as "provocative" and"irresponsible", warning that "there will be no progress" ifthe opposition maintained its stance.
For several days, government sources had said officialswere still deliberating whether they would come back toGeneva.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has met with theopposition's delegation in the meantime.(AFP)AMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.