Syria goes to the second round of peace talks

Syria's government and opposition began a second round of UN-mediated talks in Geneva on Monday but failed to meet face to face, as a fragile ceasefire and "humanitarian pause" in the central city of Homs was extended for three days to allow the evacuation of more civilians.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the Algerian diplomat chairing the conference, met each side separately to urge them to focus on the two main issues of stopping the fighting, which has killed an estimated 136,000 people, and working out how to set up a "transitional governing body" to replace the current government in Damascus.
Brahimi appeared to signal a more discreet approach by failing to hold a press conference at UN headquarters after Monday's talks, as he did following every session during the first week at the end of January. On Friday he is to meet senior US and Russian diplomats in the hope that Washington and Moscow will exercise their influence with the warring parties.
Still, while the idea of pacific talks is on, the massacres in Syria have not been less than before. Faisal Mekdad, Syria's deputy foreign minister, said: "We can't achieve a thing until massacres in Syria come to a stop." It would be a waste of time to discuss Assad's departure, he added. The official delegation also presented a document to Brahimi formulating the now familiar demand that "terrorism" – its blanket term for all opposition to the president – must be defeated before political issues can be discussed.
On the other hand the opposition said that the government has killed more than 1,805 people since the start of the Geneva II process on 22 January. It said at least 834 people had been killed in Aleppo alone by more than 130 barrel bombs. It also referred to evidence released by international human rights groups about the large-scale demolition of entire neighborhoods with explosives and bulldozers.

Taken from: http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/51910e14ecad046e01000007/total-devastation-in-one-syrian-city.jpg

My opinion about this is that the syrian peace talks are going about as smooth as the colombian ones. Even if they make truces while they're at it but both parties immediately break them there won't be such thing as "peace", only more and more delusion.

I definitely agree with Faisal Mekdad's point of view: Negotiation cannot be started unless the massacres stop, just like here in Colombia. How do anyone expect to make peace negotiations while they don't have the minimum intention to stop killing people? Especially the innocent civilians who are being slaughtered in the middle of the crossfires? 

The answer I give is a simple "it's impossible". If syrian government and opposition really want to reach an agreement of peace, they shall start by at least diminishing the damage caused by war all over their country.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/10/syria-peace-talks-homs-ceasefire-extended