The new round of Syria peace talks next week should focus on the country's political future, rather than the ceasefire and humanitarian aid issues, UN mediator Staffan de Mistura says.
Some of those involved in the process were forgetting that the current ceasefire and aid shipments are not the solution to end the five-year conflict, de Mistura said on Wednesday in Geneva, where the talks are due to take place.
"The solution is a political transition in Syria," he added.
Delegates from the Syrian government and opposition are set to arrive in Geneva over the coming days, and substantive talks are set to start Monday on new governance and a new constitution, as well as on elections that are to be held within 18 months.
Opposing Syrian negotiators are not expected to sit at the same table, but de Mistura and UN officials will shuttle between the two sides.
On February 12, global and regional powers agreed in Munich to use their influence on the Syrian government and opposition to broker a so-called cessation of hostilities and to arrange long-sought aid shipments to besieged areas.
The ceasefire has been largely holding, but violence persists, with extremist militias Islamic State and al-Qaeda's al-Nusra Front not included in the agreement.
Since the ceasefire took effect, 536 trucks have brought supplies to 238,000 people who had been cut off from international help for over a year.
However, senior UN official Jan Egeland said that there were still six more areas besieged by the Syrian army that have not been accessed because of lacking security clearances by the government and armed opposition groups.
Egeland said it was a "black stain" on Syria and the world "that people starve besieged areas and hard-to-reach areas while humanitarian workers have supplies that can reach them".
A spokesperson for French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said he would hold Syria talks with his German, US, British and Italian counterparts in Paris on Sunday.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini would also attend.
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