US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman arrives for a meeting with the UN Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and the Russian deputy foreign ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. The meeting takes place to assess prospects of peace talks in Geneva between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and a united opposition delegation. (AP Photo/Keystone, Jean-Christophe Bott)
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman arrives for a meeting with the UN Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and the Russian deputy foreign ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. The meeting takes place to assess prospects of peace talks in Geneva between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and a united opposition delegation. (AP Photo/Keystone, Jean-Christophe Bott)
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman arrives for a meeting with the UN Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and the Russian deputy foreign ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. The meeting takes place to assess prospects of peace talks in Geneva between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and a united opposition delegation. (AP Photo/Keystone, Jean-Christophe Bott)
In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, black smoke billows the air from heavy shelling in the Damascus country side of Daraya, Syria, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)
In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrians look at damages after a missile hit the eastern countryside of Homs, Syria, on Monday, Nov. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)
GENEVA (AP) — As diplomats assessed prospects of bringing Syria's warring sides around the negotiating table, the United Nations said Tuesday that 40 percent of all Syrians are now in need in need of humanitarian aid.
The war in the country has left 9.3 million Syrians requiring help from the U.N. and other humanitarian aid organizations, including upwardly revised figure of 6.5 million people who are now internally displaced, said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, said of the new figures.
"They're staggering, it's a disaster, and it continues," Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, said of the new figures.
As he spoke, the U.N.'s top Syria envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, headed into meetings with senior Russian and U.S. official to see if a U.N.-sponsored peace conference bringing together Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and a united opposition delegation could be convened later this month in Geneva.
Brahimi also planned to meet with officials from Britain, France, China and four of Syria's neighbors struggling to cope with the conflict, now in its third year. The U.N. says over 100,000 people have died.
Diplomats are trying to resume negotiations that created the roadmap for a Syrian political transition adopted last year in Geneva by key nations, including the five Security Council powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France. The roadmap for a political transition starts with the establishment of a transitional governing body with full executive powers and ends with elections, but there has been no agreement on how to implement it. One of the sticking points remains Assad's role in the future.
Syria's information minister said the government delegation is not ready to negotiate handing over power or forming a transitional government. Members of the exiled and Western-backed opposition group insist Assad be excluded from Syria's future leadership for any talks to take place.
In an interview with Syrian state TV late Monday, Omran al-Zoubi said Geneva talks are part of a political process, "and not a handover of power or forming a transitional governing body."
The conflict began as a largely peaceful uprising against Assad's rule in March 2011 and gradually became an armed conflict, after some opposition supporters took up arms to fight a government crackdown on dissent.
Over the past year, the fighting took on sectarian overtones with predominantly Sunni Muslim rebels fighting Assad's regime that is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot Shiite group.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-11-05-Syria-Diplomacy/id-1e68ae4ecfd9474b969b66e5e05aa34aSimilar Articles: Tara Lynn nhl yom kippur Dedication 5 Anna Kendrick
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