国际和会调停叙利亚冲突，阿萨德前途未卜

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is due to meet Thursday in Geneva with representatives of the Syrian government and opposition, as he tries to mediate an end to nearly three years of deadly violence.

Brahimi will meet separately with each side and discuss how to proceed to the next step of direct negotiations.  Those talks were scheduled to begin Friday, but Brahimi said Wednesday after the opening of a long-awaited peace conference that the separate meetings may continue.

He also said there are "fairly clear indications" that the government and opposition are prepared to talk about humanitarian access, freeing prisoners and establishing local cease-fires.

The first day of the peace effort brought together more than 40 delegations to the Swiss city of Montreux, and was marked by a sharp divide over President Bashar al-Assad's future in Syria.